Re: medicare coverage for drugs? Medical insurance/medicaire

[Guest guest]

Hi all.

I worked in a school system and know that when you turn 65 Medicare becomes the

primary insurance. Keep the insurance from the school district. Mine was

BlueCross Blue Shield. It has a $10 copay. The school district that I worked

in had a prescription plan. I still have that. Bottom line is that after you

retire you keep the benefits. I do not pay for BlueCross Blue Shield. So, my

state check does not deduct for the medical plan that I have. A crossover is

made between Medicare and your secondary insurance. Medicare gets billed first

and sends the balance to the secondary insurance company. All you need to do is

select a provider (doctor) who participates in your insurance. It is more

economical to stay with the school district's health insurance as secondary.

The only thing that I pay extra for is dental. That hasn't been offered for

free. The prescription plan was a $5 co-pay when I worked, but is higher now.

The amount that I have to pay depends on the prescription.

I have been told that people that retired after me have to contibute towards

the secondary health insurance. I suggest that you check it out with someone

knowledgeable in the district or with the State Dept. that helps you fill out

your retirement papers. You can call any time before you retire.

I hope that this helps.

Sandy

> >

> > I have also wondered about this topic. I am 60 yrs. old, so I hope I live

> > long enough to receive Medicare. BUT, when I do, what happens?? I take

> > Tasigna 800 mg. per day. It is extremely expensive. I am a retired

teacher

> > and have my health insurance which covers the cost right now. I thought

> > it was automatic that Medicare becomes your primary ins. and your employee

> > coverage becomes secondary when you turn 65. Is that true or not? Can I

> > opt to keep my currrent insurance or prescription coverage as primary? I

> > don't know anything about this.

> >

> > Thanks,

> > in NY

> _____________________________________

>

> Hi ,

> You are already a retired teacher...but still working?

> Many teachers get health insurance for life when they retire? is that your

case. What your insurance does when you become 65 is that they (usually) take

advantage of the Medicare coverage that you have and create a health insurance

around this. To find out what your retirement insurance actually does, you need

to talk to them (as it can vary). In the example that I mentioned, you would

keep your health insurance and they would bill Medicare, etc....and if you have

drug coverage you also keep that, but sometimes the coverage for retirees

changes (but usually is has an annual maxiumum out of pocket). Generally, if you

have the option of keeping health insurance related to work, that is better

coverage and costs less, especially for drugs.

>

> I learned about this from the school of hard knocks! When I took an early

retirement at age 57, I kept my health insurance by paying Cobra, which only

lasts so long. I did not want to go on Medicare then because they did not have

drug coverage. I should have gone onto retirement health insurance with my

employee (state of Oregon) and would have had drug coverage but I did not

realize this....and I screwed up! You can only stay with your employee

retirement health insurance if you sign up within a certain period of time, but

it sounds like you might already be using retirement insurance? Bottom

line....find out early if you can just stay with your present health insurance

even when you reach Medicare age...which is actually what most vested employees

do.

>

> Also, plan to be around to reach Medicare age and beyond!

>

> This mess of all these different insurance options and companies is one reason

that many people are in favor of a single payer system...to get rid of all these

money-making middlemen.

>

> C. (from Oregon)

>