Medicare & You

BY KATHY JONES, MEDICARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM SUPERVISOR

If you have coverage through an individual Health Insurance Marketplace plan (not through an employer) and are turning 65, you probably have questions about what to expect when you become eligible for Medicare.

Marketplace Health Insurance is designed to help people who wouldn’t otherwise have any health coverage. In most cases, if you have a Marketplace plan when you become eligible for Medicare, you’ll want to end your Marketplace coverage when Medicare starts. Do not end your Marketplace plan until you know for sure when your new coverage starts. Once you end Marketplace coverage, you can’t re-enroll until the next annual Open Enrollment Period, unless you qualify for a Special Enrollment Period.

No, it’s against the law for someone who knows that you have Medicare to sell you a Marketplace plan. This is true even if you only have Part A or Part B. Once you’re considered eligible for Part A, you won’t qualify for help paying your Marketplace plan premiums or other medical costs. If you continue to get help through tax credits and reduced cost-sharing, you might have to pay back the help you received when you file your taxes.

Generally, no, because it’s against the law for someone to sell you a Marketplace plan when you have Medicare. However, there are some situations where you can choose Marketplace coverage instead of Medicare: • You can choose Marketplace coverage if you’re eligible for

Medicare but haven’t enrolled because you would have to pay a premium for Part A or because you’re not collecting Social

Security benefits. • If you are paying a premium for

Part A, you can drop your Part

A and Part B coverage and get a

Marketplace plan.

In most cases, the steps you take to cancel depend on whose coverage is being canceled.

• The household contact is usually the person who created the

Marketplace account and filled out the application. You must contact the Marketplace Call

Center at (800) 318-2596 to change the household contact if others in your household are staying on the plan.

• You can end coverage for everyone on your Marketplace plan by going online at Healthcare.gov or calling the Marketplace Call

Center. Your termination can take effect in as little as 14 days from the day you cancel your health insurance. • You can also end coverage for just some of the people on your

Marketplace plan by going online or calling the Marketplace Call

Center.

Sources: www.healthcare.gov, www.medicare.gov

The Medicare Assistance Program (MAP) at LIFE Senior Services is offering more ways to help you determine if your Medicare prescription drug plan will still meet your needs in 2023. MAP will have face-to-face appointments at four facilities, including LIFE’s Central location at 5950 E. 31st St. in Tulsa. Phone appointments are available as well and allow you to compare your Medicare Part D options from the safety of your home. All services will be provided by trained Medicare Oklahoma State Health Insurance Assistance Program counselors from LIFE Senior Services!