Help with "if you refuse Medicare coverage, you lose SS benefits"....

I've been Googling but the right-wingers have taken over the Internet! Geesh...it's so damn hard to get facts any more. Going to the SSA and Medicare/HHS site is just as cumbersome since I'm evidently not using the correct search terms.

Is this statement true? Can someone point me to the specifics of this policy?

I was watching "Meet The Press" and this statement by Armey started a family brouhaha.

Thanks in advance. :)

lie by lie.

Thanks. :)

:headbang:
rocktivity

That's a good place to start.

The payment comes out of the Social Security monthly payment.

A person may have additional supplemental insurance in addition to Medicare, but the process of going on Medicare is done automatically.

It isn't true for SSDI (disability) for sure. It may be true for SS retirement. My house mate recently started subscribing to Medicare (he just turned 65), even though he has medical coverage through his AA retirement. His explanation was fuzzy. I'll see if I can look it up.

If you are already receiving Social Security benefits--

Most people qualify for Medicare when they turn 65. You qualify for it if you're eligible for Social Security or Railroad Retirement benefits. Or you may qualify on a spouse's (including divorced spouse's) record. Others qualify because they are government employees not covered by Social Security who paid the Medicare part of the Social Security tax. In addition, if you've been getting Social Security disability benefits for 24 months or get Social Security disability benefits and have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease), you'll qualify for Medicare. You may also qualify if you have permanent kidney failure and you receive maintenance dialysis or a kidney transplant.

If you are already getting Social Security benefits, you'll automatically be enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B. However, because you must pay a premium for Part B coverage, you have the option of turning it down. You will be contacted by mail a few months before you become eligible and given all the information you need. (Note: Residents of Puerto Rico or foreign countries will not receive Part B automatically. They must elect this benefit.)


http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/ssa.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=165&p_created=955633860&p_sid=3gkaRxFj&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD01Myw1MyZwX3Byb2RzPSZwX2NhdHM9MTAzJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9MS4xMDMmcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MQ**&p_li=&p_topview=1

There are four parts to Medicare: Medicare Part A, Hospital Insurance; Medicare Part B, Medical Insurance; Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage), which was formerly known as "Medicare + Choice" and the new Medicare Part D, prescription drug coverage. Generally, people who are over age 65 and getting Social Security automatically qualify for Medicare Parts A and B. So do people who have been getting disability benefits for two years, people who have amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease) and receive disability benefits, and people who have permanent kidney failure and receive maintenance dialysis or a kidney transplant.

Part A is paid for by a portion of Social Security tax. It helps pay for inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing care, hospice care and other services.

Part B is paid for by the monthly premiums of people enrolled and by general funds from the U.S. Treasury. It helps pay for doctors' fees, outpatient hospital visits, and other medical services and supplies that are not covered by Part A.

Part C (Medicare Advantage) plans allow you to choose to receive all of your health care services through a provider organization. These plans may help lower your costs of receiving medical services, or you may get extra benefits for an additional monthly fee. You must have both Parts A and B to enroll in Part C.

Part D (prescription drug coverage) is voluntary and the costs are paid for by the monthly premiums of enrollees and Medicare. Unlike Part B in which you are automatically enrolled and must opt out if you do not want it, with Part D you have to opt in by filling out a form and enrolling in an approved plan.

I receive SSDI and I was automatically enrolled in Medicare A & B six months after I started receiving it. I don't know that there was an option to decline either of these.

Frankly, though, until the six months was up I was enrolled in Medicade, and it was far superior to Medicare in New Mexico.

I can only wonder if things will be different for me, here in PA.

I had to take it or face having my insurance company only paying 20 cents to the dollar. Medicare become the primary your other insurance become secondary.The following links have many frequent questions some of what your trying to find. Rep. Murphy(D) has a pretty good explanation on his site. On the SSA site your can narrow down your questions. Mostly if your 65 your quality automatically you can opt out of PartD the RX plan.

http://www.patrickmurphy.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=77

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/

"The Wall Street Journal said that if a senior should refuse Medicare, he would forfeit his Social Security income as well. These benefits are tied together by a questionable administrative act by the Clinton administration and sustained by the Bush administration. I also understand that if my wife and I (both over 65) move permanently to a foreign country, we will forfeit our Medicare benefits. Based on the "tied together" administrative act described above, would we also lose our Social Security income because we would no longer be entitled to Medicare? If our Social Security income would continue in a foreign country, would it be subject to the 100% "Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount" penalty we are paying for Medicare in 2009 because our income was too high in 2007? I wrote to the field manager of our local Social Security office about a month ago, but he never responded."


As you note, if you live (or travel) outside the U.S., you usually can't use Medicare. But you can still collect Social Security retirement benefits.

A bit of background: In most cases, Medicare, the federal health-care insurance program for people who are 65 and older or disabled, is limited to coverage in the U.S. Medicare Part A provides hospital coverage; it is free if you are 65 or older and you qualify through your employment record (or your spouse's). Medicare Part B covers doctor visits and other medical services; here, you generally pay a monthly premium -- at least $96.40 a month in 2009.

As long as you maintain Medicare Part A, your Social Security retirement benefits will continue no matter where you live, says Dorothy Clark, a Social Security spokeswoman in Baltimore. If you were to drop Part A, your Social Security payments would end as well, she says. But no matter how long you plan to live abroad, you should have no problem continuing Part A coverage if you were to return to the U.S., because there is no cost for it.

In contrast, dropping Medicare Part B, which charges a premium, wouldn't have any impact on your Social Security benefits. And it may make sense to drop that benefit if you move permanently overseas and can't use it. But it is important to be reasonably certain that you will be staying overseas for a long time before you do so. If you decide to move back to the U.S. and want to start Part B coverage again, the premium could be 10% higher for each 12-month period that you could have been enrolled but weren't. There is a limited window each year, from Jan. 1 through March 31, when you are allowed to re-enroll.

http://www.filife.com/stories/collecting-social-security-when-abroad

So, yes...you must maintain Part A, but Part A is free anyway.

And even Part B leaves bills unpaid. Many therefore buy supplemental insurance.

My parents have Part B, and a supplemental policy that costs them $350 a month, over and above the $96 they each pay for the Medicare Part B coverage. And even with all that, they have prescriptions that are not covered.

No amount of coverage will even make citizens safe from uncovered and unforeseen charges.

country, e.g. Mexico?

United States."

The word "generally" suggests one or more exceptions such as "are citizens of foreign countries who receive SS and eligible for Medicare able to have Medicare pay for some of their care in their home country?"

My husband is over 65. He is not covered by Medicare because he did not sign up for it because he is fully covered by my employer-provided health care coverage. He still gets is Social Security checks and there is no deduction from his SS for the Medicare costs.
When I retire (or otherwise lose medical coverage) he will sign up for Medicare.

Your husband was automatically enrolled in Medicare Parts A and B when he turned 65.

He's getting his SS checks because he's enrolled in Medicare Part A.

Scare and fear, that's all they have left. Happy karma to them all.

Odd, since enrollment in Part A and Part B is automatic and you can only opt out of Part B...unless I'm reading the SS regulations incorrectly.

Part A is free anyway...

I'm not 65. Does that matter? We have good insurance and don't want to go for a lesser product. I don't recall discussing Medicare when I signed up for SS.

(assuming you're already collecting SS benefits)

You'll automatically be enrolled in Parts A and B, but you'll have the option to opt out of Part B.

... already collecting SS. :toast:

As part of my retirement package, I start collecting a SS supplement when I retire (at 48, for me) and I plan to reside out of the country, so I've been looking into this stuff lately.

All the best to you.

Is there some reason that having Medicare Part A, which I understand is free, would preclude other coverage if the person prefers to have other private coverage? And thus opting out of A, which may terminate SS (the specifics still seem unclear), is an unfair burden?

I agree...I can't understand why anyone would refuse it, if they need coverage, that is. But if philosophically they are against it and prefer to get coverage elsewhere, are they indeed being penalized by opting out?

I really want to understand because I have a lot of family members who will be faced with these issues soon and I hate being clueless and I hate even more that they listen to right-wingers.

As with most issues, it's complicated, which enables the lies to take hold.

Thanks again. :)

Info is here, toward the bottom of the page:

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10043.html#part7

:)

this fucking country is`t worth saving if the democrats do`t give a shit to save it

It's also not as bad as they're making it sound, but they ARE telling the truth.