My Journey to Medicare: What You Need to Know, Regardless of Your Age

By MaxHSA

I am now enrolled in Medicare. One Health Savings Account chapter ends for me, but I will continue to benefit from this lifetime account.

It was inevitable that I would enroll on Medicare at some point. For the past three years, as I have worked for myself with no group plan, I enrolled on my wife's HSA-qualified employer-sponsored coverage. Long story short, her employer - but not her job or location - changed, and the new company has taken employee benefits in a new direction.

The new employer offers a CHOICE (formerly ICHRA) model. The company gives each employee a fixed monthly stipend to purchase coverage in the nongroup market. Fortunately, I know a good deal about this option and was able to guide my wife through the enrollment process. Unfortunately, the stipend did not increase with covered family members.

Doing the Math

We reviewed our options. In round numbers, it would cost about $1,600 monthly (after the employer CHOICE stipend) to cover both of us on a two-person nongroup plan. If we covered only my wife, the monthly cost dropped to about $600, or roughly what she was paying previously from her monthly paycheck to cover both of us.

I could then enroll on Medicare for a $202.90 monthly premium and choose between a Medicare Advantage program and traditional Medicare with Part D prescription-drug coverage and a Medicare supplement plan. My advisor, a certified Medicare specialist (enrolling on Medicare and choosing from a dizzying array of annually changing options is not a do-it-yourself project), and I are reviewing my options before I decide later today on coverage for the rest of this calendar year.