Retirement and health insurance costs - Page 10

patbz · ‎03-10-2010

I became a Civil Servant in 1978 (CSRS)after I already had 14 years under Social Security. Fast forward to 1984 and I was in charge of making sure that 4000 CS employees had all the info to decide whether to transfer to FERs from CSRS, or do a combination of CSRS and FERS. After a lot of study of both systems and with input of national experts (I was base liaison on this system transfer) I opted for the combination choise. I am now retired and have both a fat Social Security check and a nice 401k balance ( I aggressively contributed once the Govt offered that option). A previous poster correctly noted that very few employees opted to change and fewer still took the option I chose.

reiki604 · ‎03-09-2010

@lovesrecess wrote:
many doctors no longer accept Medicare at all...Advantage plan or not. Just learned that the urgent care clinic not far from me, which I have used several times over they years on holidays or other situations when I came down with pneumonia on a Friday evening...don't take Medicare at all.
It seems many treat Medicare patients like free-loaders or something....but in reality they are reimbursed so little by Medicare for services they perform, they lose money each time they treat Medicare patients. Such an unfair system. Pray we don't ever get Medicare for all!

I don't know where you live but I do know that where I live there are no problems finding a doc or urgi-care that accepts Medicare. Please do not generalize your local issues with the rest of the country. Some states do not promote the health and wellness of all their citizens.

'I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed man'.......Unknown

Scooby Doo · ‎03-14-2010

@lmt wrote:
@patbz wrote:
@I am still oxox : As a previous poster mentioned, employees of the Federal Govt are subject to very different rules (including that some CSRS employees aren't entitled to Medicare-- as they didn't pay into it). DH and I are both Federal retirees and have BCBS as our supplement. It's not the cheapest alternative but we have high medical and prescription costs so that's what works for us. Another factor is are you living in a rural location (you may be surprised: Santa Barbara is considered "rural"), this definitely affects the cost of your coverage.
@patbz I retired (took early out) from the Federal Government almost 5 years ago. I started under CSRS and retired under CSRS after 36 years. I'm not on Medicare and won't be eligible for several more years. I know several people who retired under CSRS and are on Medicare. I never heard of CSRS retirees not being eligible.

I found this on the SSA.GOV website .....

If you stayed under the CSRS program after 1983, you still are not covered by Social Security. However, you are covered under the Medicare program because you pay Medicare taxes on your Federal earnings.

I remember paying the Medicare tax from my wages, I can't remember the exact amount. Currently employees pay 1.45% from their wages - that may have been the same amount I was paying too.

The underlined info is incorrect. All are entitled to Medicare.

She may have been referencing social security payments. Some are not eligible for SS, but some are. That is called the Windfall Elimination Provision, or WEP. It's complicated.

froggy · ‎03-10-2010

@I am still oxox wrote:
My hubby will be retiring in April or May of 2020 from a job in the Federal Gov't.
He just got a estimate of benefits which includes a $450 dollar monthly charge for health insurance. With the 140 each dedication for Medicare this will bring our monthly payments to over 700 per month.
Is this the going rate, or do I need to start shopping around?

That does not seem out of line. We have Plan F through USAA and that, combined with our Medicare Part D prescription plans, comes to about that much. We also have Dental and Vision plans that are about $100 per month. The medical is about what my portion of my Employer plan was when I was working, but it comes out a little better in the end - with Plan F there are no visit co-pays and in my 4 years of retirement we have had to pay nothing out of pocket for any of our various ailments.