Medicare & FEHBP, Who Needs It?
Is Medicare too expensive? Is it worth it? Senior Correspondent Mike Causey puts the question to an expert.
When you retire from the federal government you will have the option to keep your Federal Employee Health Benefits Plan and to sign up for Medicare. And pay premiums to both. Keeping the FEHBP plan is a no-brainer. Do it unless you have a spare $300,000 laying around to pay medical bills for yourself and a spouse. That’s the amount many experts say a couple over 65 can expect to rack up in bills as they age. Fortunately your federal health plan will pay the lion’s share of most of those bills.
But the Medicare question is more complicated.
A reader named Marilyn is facing that choice. She asked us to give a yea or nay. Here’s her question:
When an employee retires and keeps their Blue Cross and Blue Shield insurance, then do they keep their standard option only which is probably the best thing to do, or do they keep the basic option and get Part B of medicare? Please comment on this and what experts think for the future FERS employees and for the already retired employees under the CSRS.
We passed the buck on to experts at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees. This is their reply:
We at NARFE do not track what health care coverage changes CSRS or FERS federal retirees make when they become eligible for Medicare. We do however receive a great many questions from FEHBP enrolled federal retirees when they are faced with the decision.
What federal retirees need to understand is that after they enroll in Medicare it becomes their primary health insurance coverage and their FEHBP plan is now secondary coverage supplementing the benefits Medicare pays.
Enrollment in Part A hospital is free to most federal retirees and should not be declined.
Enrollment in Part B medical requires paying a premium each month in addition to the monthly FEHBP premium.
Some federal retirees find coverage under their current FEHBP plan to be adequate for their needs particularly since they all provide prescription drug coverage benefits that Part B does not. Those retirees often opt to stick with their FEHBP plan and not enroll in Medicare B.
For those retirees whose medical circumstances (or peace of mind) require them to have as much health insurance coverage as possible, the monthly premium cost for both can be a strain.
During the next annual Federal Benefits Open Season period those retirees should review FEHBP plans they are eligible to enroll in to get the coverage they need to supplement Medicare at a lower premium cost.
But as my father used to advise “look before you leap”. While the lower cost options have similar coverage to the higher options there is a reason why they are less expensive. Lower cost options may restrict enrollees to using the plan’s preferred providers to get any benefit coverage and they may not offer the same prescription drug benefits as the plan’s standard or high option.
Nearly Useless Factoid
It seems you can’t throw a pine cone these days without hitting a recipe calling for pine nuts. They may seem like “the new food” but they’re not really. According to Goods from the Woods, “the pine nut was to the people of the Great Basin what the buffalo was to the plains people” who have been around for about 12,000 years. But, of course, this is all a matter of a pinon. (ducking)
To reach Mike once he returns from vacation: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com
To reach Mike’s (non-vacationing) editor and factoid composer: skubota@federalnewsradio.com
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