Medicare vs Group Health Insurance: When You’re Still Working at Age 65

Posted by Melissa Hanes
Estimated Reading Time 1 minute 21 seconds

We tend to think of Medicare as “health insurance for retired people”, but that isn’t always the case. Many people are still working when they reach age 65 and become eligible to enroll in Medicare, or they have a spouse who is still working and covered by a group healthcare plan. You might still enroll in Medicare, depending upon your exact circumstances, but the plan you choose can actually coordinate with other forms of health insurance. Here’s how it works.

If your company employs more than twenty people, you can enroll in Medicare and use it as secondary insurance. Your group healthcare policy will remain your primary plan, and you must be offered the same coverage as all other employees. However, Medicare will kick in to pay some or most of what your primary plan does not cover. If you use Medicare as secondary insurance, you might be able to keep out-of-pocket expenses quite low.

If your company employs fewer than twenty people, your Medicare policy will become your primary insurance with your group healthcare plan serving as secondary insurance. Sometimes there are exceptions to this rule, such as when a small employer participates with other employers to access the group healthcare plan.

This situation probably won’t last forever. At some point, you or your spouse will retire or drop the group healthcare policy for some other reason. At that point your Medicare plan will simply take over as your primary healthcare insurance. Of course, that might also mean that your out-of-pocket expenses change, so it would be a good idea to review the plan options available to you and potentially switch to a different Medicare plan.

Contact us to speak with a licensed agent if you have any questions about how Medicare can coordinate with other forms of health insurance.  We can help you explore different plans and choose one that provides for your needs while helping you maintain your budget.