Thread regarding Sam's Club layoffs

Medicare costs much more than work health plan It's going down &5.00 per month in 2023 so it's $165.00 per month not cheap compared to Sam's . Then you have to pick a plan some charge extra monthly fee on top of Medicare so pick wisely ,I would keep your work plan but if your 65 you have to sign up for Medicare. But the good thing you can delay paying for it if you keep working just let social security know this , but you still have to sign up to avoid higher monthly fees the rest of your life!!

The real problem is a certain "fact checker" that actually don't know anything, and jumping on the one guy that told the OP what needs to be done right away.

I couldn't see why this one went that way either. Lots of hate all round.

Wow! So much hate here. It sounds like they were just trying to help and even told OP to check with the company and Medicare before acting and to seek professional guidance before acting. All sounds like good advice to me. All reasonable. The rest can be checked on website provided. No good deed goes unpunished here. Just like at freakin work. Jeez.

Jesus fu-k everyone who thinks medicare plus sam's club insurance is great is a fu----g mo--n

the guy who says this is a stupid idea is right

everyone else is about 2 iq points away from having no iq

@6yxh+1j3jYDKe no, actually @5qjb+1j3jYDKe is correct.

I thought about rebutting your entire text-wall, but there is only one thing to point out that makes you so fu----g stupid that absolutely nothing else you say matters.

you are not responsible for filing your private insurance or your secondary insurance. The hospital or physician's office handles that.

You do not know how any of this works. The patient is ultimately responsible for paying.

Consider this: A hospital bills insurance, the insurance says "not us, bill the other guy," the other insurance says "no bill the first guy first." Do you seriously think the hospital is going to just give up and say it is free? No. They will bill the whole amount to the patient, leaving it up to the patient to fight the impossible battle.

Everything about Medicare A vs B is entirely a non-sequitur.

You at least made an effort checking the "fact checker." Keep practicing, maybe someday you will know what you are talking about.

Medicare is your answer, not Sam's insurance. Keep the dental and vision though. I got with Charles J. Halm Insurance Agency and they went over all my medicines and needs -at no cost to me, cause they get paid through the government - and helped me select supplemental insurance - you know one of those ones that are advertised on tv all the time. Those extra insurances are free and cover almost everything else. So get with a local insurance agency that deals with additional insurance. I also got Extra Help from Medicaid and don't have to pay for my Medicare or medicines.

Sam's would not let me sign up for their insurance once I turned 65.

@@5qjb+1j3jYDKe

You are wrong or only partially correct on a couple of your points.

Life-changing events generally make you eligible to make changes in your employer-sponsored insurance and becoming eligible for Medicare is considered a life-changing event on most plans. I would check with Walmart insurance before making a move to be sure, but I would be quite surprised if Walmart wouldn't be happy to offload insurance coverage on a person old enough to qualify for Medicare.

Open enrollment periods really do not exist for people on Medicare after the initial 6 month window. If you keep your private insurance, then such periods exist only with 3 months of turning 65 or within 8 months of losing your qualifying coverage. This is for Medicare B only. Medicare A explained below. You see ads for Medicare Advantage at the end of the year due to "open enrollment". Medicare Advantage is generally not a good choice unless you plan to never get sick. Medicare D has an open enrollment period at the end of the year, but if you fail to sign up within 4 months of turning 65 or losing qualifying coverage then you pay a significant penalty in your premiums.

Medicare A is free for most people. However, as the other poster indicated, you really need to sign up within 6 months of becoming eligible or you will pay a substantial penalty in your premiums for Medicare B when you do get around to it. There is no downside to signing up for Medicare A within 3 months of eligibility and there is plenty of downside.

Your discussion of having 2 plans is secondary to the above, but you are not responsible for filing your private insurance or your secondary insurance. The hospital or physician's office handles that. Unfortunately, that is moot anyway because you essentially must apply for Medicare A (but not B if you have qualifying coverage) within 3 months of your 65th birthday and by law Medicare is always the secondary insurance billed only after your other primary coverage has been billed.

This is obviously a complex decision when even the board "fact checker" doesn't know their facts. Don't be afraid to reach out to a professional or check Medicare.gov website for further assistance in this confusing matter.

Except for @fgs+1j3jYDKe, all the advice in this thread is dangerously wrong.

Myth: You can drop your employer health plan at any time. Fact: Except with a family status change or resignation, you can't.

Myth: You must apply for Medicare within three months of turning 65. Fact: That is just one of several times you can enroll. You can also enroll when you leave your job, as well as during open enrollment periods.

Myth: Two health plans are better than one. Fact: They will point fingers at each other instead of paying claims. It will be a paperwork nightmare.

Tough decision. You definitely need to apply for Medicare A within 3 months of turning 65. It is free. That is what covers hospitalization and would pay after your Walmart insurance should you choose to keep it. Medicare B is tougher. There is a premium of about $160 per month. Medicare A&B only cover 80% of expenses so you also need supplemental insurance through a private company. That will probably also cost about $160 per month. Then you need Medicare D for your prescription dr-gs. You need to get Medicare D even if you have few or no medications at present because you will need it later and the premium will be high if you don't pick it up now. Do NOT opt for Medicare "Advantage". It is cheap upfront, but when you need an expensive medical procedure you will be at the mercy of a private for-profit insurance company and probably be on the hook for a large (sometimes thousands of $$) deductible. If they don't deny the treatment to begin with. With Medicare, your premiums are a bit higher but your medical expenses are nil unless you have high prescription costs. Hope that helps.

I would choose medicare. I had a $800000 surgery. It only cost me about 200 out of pocket. At Sams you would've had to pay your deductible. Which is 1000.00 or more plus 20 percent.

It may fall under a major life change and you may be able to drop it with a start date of nov. 1st. Call benefits and find out if it’s considered major life change.

If you are going to keep working you need to go to a Social Security Office and let them know you are going to be keeping medical through Sams. Because you can delay paying for Medicare but you still have to sign up for it by 65 so you don't get penalized every month. But if you drop medical through work , which is what I did but KEEP Dental because it is expensive through Medicare I have looked . But yeah keep dental because it's cheap through work!!

You can drop the employer insurance. But as mentioned earlier you will need to wait until open enrollment.

The reason most say you have to stay on the employer plan is because of the out of pocket expenses. Medicare does not cover everything so some say use employer plan others say pay for the extra parts of Medicare.

Shorter answer request some information from Social Security and do some comparisons.

Try going on walmartone or the wire. You can choose my health and go to benefits. I'm not sure if you will qualify under the status change. If you can't you'll be able to cancel company insurance during open enrollment. Unfortunately our new plan year doesn't start until January so you'd be paying for November and December. Good luck hope you can make the changes you need!

You are still working and get health insurance, and you switched to Medicare?

Generally employers won't let you change because you signed up for different insurance. So you are stuck with both until your employer's open enrollment or you leave your job.

And being on multiple health plans means they will point at each other for claims and you may as well end up with neither.

You screwed this up big time. Unless you can undo Medicare enrollment, you should either quit or don't plan to use health insurance