Kevin, I totally agree with Cheryl. I am on long term disability and had insurance through my company. They were primary and since I already had good coverage I didn't sign up for Part B when it was offered. Turned out the people at my company (it is a large well known one), didn't know that Medicare was supposed to be the primary coverage, not the one the company offered. At one point the company thought they might even charge the LTD folks for the $$ they had paid for our coverage.
The kicker was I had to pay a 10% penality every year - I am up to over $140.00 a month where most people are paying about $93 or something close. Like Cheryl said, work with Medicare and get everything in writing. Even the people that should be able to give you correct answers a lot of times really don't know. Cindy McLeroy ----- Original Message ----- From: [email protected] To: Kevin Wolfthal Cc: [email protected] Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 8:45 AM Subject: Re: [TMIC] ot: medicare question Hi Kevin, I have had medicare part A & B since I got tm in August 1995.I have a medicare HMO through Health New England.That costs me $123 a month in addition to what medicare part A & B cost. Do you have medicare part B? I do know if you do not get part B when it is offered,you pay higher premiums for it later.So if you do have it,you might have to pay more later if you cancel it now. I'd talk to medicare about what exactly happens if you cancel ,and get any advice in writing.It amazes me how people get conflicting info about the consequences of cancelling things. Make sure you are fully informed before cancelling medicare.You don't want problems later Cheryl in Easthampton,MA. --- On Fri, 8/27/10, Kevin Wolfthal <[email protected]> wrote: From: Kevin Wolfthal <[email protected]> Subject: [TMIC] ot: medicare question To: [email protected] Date: Friday, August 27, 2010, 11:27 AM Dear Friends, I am looking for ways to cut my expenses so I can continue to live where I am. I have never used Medicare, but have been paying about $100 a month for it for about 10 years out of my SSDI. Blue Cross is my primary insurance. I am thinking of dropping Medicare for now to save money. I was told I could always reapply for it later, that it takes about 3 months to get it back. I would like opinions on whether there could be negative repercussions to dropping it for now. As I mentioned, I've never used it in 10 years. Kevin
