I am 56 and wife is 44. Does any body know if I retire next year, assuming AT&T does not stop subsidy for pre medicare people, if she can continue to receive subsidy even when I get to age 65?
19 replies (most recent on top)
Living the dream with 44 yr old wife! LOL
" If you retire by or before 12/31/2020, and are not 65, as in being Medicare eligible, then you WILL NOT GET the Subsidy"
This is a blanket statement that is NOT applicable in all situations.
Non bargained (like me) that ARE indeed eligible for subsidized pre 65 healthcare (by no means is this ALL non bargained; dependent on hire date, legacy company, etc. check your YTR statement) were informed that we will no longer be eligible for that subsidy if are still on payroll Jan 1, 2022.
If we retire before the end of next year (2021) we keep the subsidy. Until they decide to break their promise again.
Don't make definitive statements when you are unsure of what you're taking about.
Thanks
If you retire by or before 12/31/2020, and are not 65, as in being Medicare eligible, then you WILL NOT GET the Subsidy. You will get the subsidy when you turn 65, if you qualify, and IF AT&T is still funding it, they re-decide if they will in 2023. Bet they won't. So if you retire in 2020, and are not 65, you will pay ~$1K/mo (BSBC Silver) for AT&T retire healthcare (to keep what you have now).
“My understanding is that when you reach the modified rule of 75. Minimum 55 Years old with 20 years of service you can retire and pay your current rate (335.00 for My wife and I) monthly to maintain your healthcare til 65 y.o. and then transition to a medicare plan. Medicare needs a subsidy plan which cost about as much or less than the 335.00 you were already paying. The only difference is this 335.00 for medicare was being paid by the company in the past.”
If you are union, this price will last until the current contract expires. After that you will incur annual increases in you monthly premiums. Mine went up $65 a month for the 2021year. Your best plan is to figure you will be paying almost the entire monthly premium by the time you reach 65. I’ve been retired 5 years and my premiums have increased over $150 in the last 2 years which where my first 2 years off contract. My deductible also increased along with other changes that increase my OOP substantially. Make plans and hold on to your azz.
If you are management, not sure what your increases will be annually
“ My understanding is that when you reach the modified rule of 75. Minimum 55 Years old with 20 years of service ....”
No offense but you don’t understand MR75 or much else going by your post. Age 50 and 25 years of service also gets you MR75.
Also, the poster who advises to pay attention to the macro healthcare changes that are surely coming is right on. The model for employee sponsored healthcare is going away and we’re headed toward Medicare for all, socialized medicine, call it what you will.
Pay attention to new laws and potential socialized medical phenomenon in the US. You can rest assured employers will cut benefits to match. The lobbyists will make sure no company will be forced to offer anything extra. In other words, it creates an incentive to cut. As you can see, those plans are already in motion.
My understanding is that when you reach the modified rule of 75. Minimum 55 Years old with 20 years of service you can retire and pay your current rate (335.00 for My wife and I) monthly to maintain your healthcare til 65 y.o. and then transition to a medicare plan. Medicare needs a subsidy plan which cost about as much or less than the 335.00 you were already paying. The only difference is this 335.00 for medicare was being paid by the company in the past.
Sorry to break the news, but costs are actually much higher. You only calculated premiums. These benefits come with high deductibles. That’s right, pay the $1100 per month to have privileges of paying deductible plus the typical 20% after coverage pays only 80% for services.
“ I have not been on top of this and just reading up....It really blows my mind that those who had medical coverage if retired or FMP'd will no longer have healthcare benefits if previously eligible and hired before 1999 or whatever the rule was. Wow, this really pulls the rug out from a lot of people and their families and if I am hearing correctly they would have to retire before January 2022 to keep these healthcare benefits?. This may be fine for some but there are many still too young to retire and with financial obligations. Wow, a new low for T and s—er punch to those assuming all along they were to be covered...Unbelievable”
Insurance will be offered as it has been except you will pay the full monthly premiums if you leave after the end of 2021. Current under 65 retirees pay about 30 % or so of the monthly, some areas it is closer to 40 %. That makes the full monthly cost in the 1100 range.
Your best option is to make plans to pay full freight for your monthly insurance premiums of about $1K or so. You are not entitled to subsidized monthly premiums from the company at retirement. It’s a gift from the company that they can remove at their whim. Plan ahead and be ready for any surprise they throw at you.
What are the requirements to receive the HRA? Did you have to be hired prior to a certain year or are all Medicare AON retirees eligible?
Thank you @ilv+18y2lVou . That answered it. So my wife would get the health care retiree subsidy even if I am over 65 after a few years and she is still a few years behind me.
This is a huge sum they are taking away.
I did some simple math, assuming insurance rates don't go up, yes don't laugh, our monthly premium difference is $1,100 per month. For about 8 years until my medicare retirement that is almost $90,000. Then after I am Medicare eligible, the difference for her monthly premium will be $400 per month without subsidy. For 10 years that is $48.000. So assuming no increase in rates our cost for health just went up $140,000 if we both live to age 65 and insurance rates don't go up. Thankyou AT&T and Stankey. All these years I had couple offers to leave the company for better pay and did not because felt it was a good company even if pay was not the best. What a mistake I made.
This is a huge burden. Any way you look at this, one has to consider this in leaving the company next year or staying. I think people who are younger than 60 will be more impacted like me. If you are close to 65, you can live without this subsidy as Medicare is right around the corner. Of-course as some say if company takes retirement subsidy away, then all bets are off. Really a difficult decision.
I have not been on top of this and just reading up....It really blows my mind that those who had medical coverage if retired or FMP'd will no longer have healthcare benefits if previously eligible and hired before 1999 or whatever the rule was. Wow, this really pulls the rug out from a lot of people and their families and if I am hearing correctly they would have to retire before January 2022 to keep these healthcare benefits?. This may be fine for some but there are many still too young to retire and with financial obligations. Wow, a new low for T and s—er punch to those assuming all along they were to be covered...Unbelievable
No real answer for OP yet. As mentioned already, if qualified and eligible for Medicare subsidy that’s great. If employee gets healthcare subsidy, again great. Very few remain in this category and it can be cut at anytime. Make your plans accordingly, counting on a what if benefit twenty years from now or even 5 years is extremely risky. The consequences of mergers never work in favor of employees or supposed benefits.
I am retired and will be Medicare eligible 4/1/21. My spouse is currently covered on my ATT retiree healthcare plan. ATT Benefits Center hooked me up with a licensed broker from AON who is helping me select the best Medicare Advantage plan for my needs. My spouse who will not be eligible for Medicare for a few years will remain on my AT&T Retiree Healthcare plan. I was on the BCBS Gold plan and we will be able at that time to move my spouse into the silver plan to help lower costs since my spouse is relatively healthy. ATT is also giving me $2700 each year to put towards premiums or out of pocket expense. if I don't spend that money, it can be banked... it will rollover to the following year with no expiration. I will not have a premium for my Medicare Advantage and they are also giving me $75 per month to apply towards my Medicare B, which full cost is $144 per month. I hope this helps give folks considering retirement some idea on what to expect.
Congratulations
Have to assume he qualifies for the pre 65 healthcare subsidy if he is asking the question (understanding that he needs to retire next year to keep that subsidy eligibility).
So the question is for current retirees that are (or did) getting a subsidy for pre Medicare healthcare coverage. What happens to your spouse's coverage when you become Medicare eligible, assuming spouse is younger?
This is probably a good question for the FB ATT Retirees group. There will be plenty of folks there with this experience.
For what it's worth...to those of you that will decide to retire in 2021in order to keep your pre 65 healthcare subsidy...how long do you honestly think they will honor that? I'd bet the farm that you'll be finding out in a couple years that they're going to stop subsidy.
And, If something happens to you (if you do have medical) it will not pass to her after your death.
The first question is whether you qualify. The large majority of employees right now do not qualify for any medical benefits in retirements.