She wants to know what you want to know.
We're joined by our experts
to talk about all things
Medicare and health insurance.
Today, we're giving you the
information that you need to kn.
And our experts are taking
your questions live.
So you can start texting in
your questions now.
Send them to the number
that's on your screen,
336-379-5775. You can get those questions
answered in real time. All righ.
Catherine CVA with AARP and Steve Edmonds
with Alliance Insurance Services are here.
All right, first and foremost,
we are going to.
Talk about healthcare and we're going
to talk about Medicare. So Catherine,
let's first start off with Medi.
And when you have to sign up for Medicare,
let's go over the timeline. Sur.
So Medicare is the
insurance for us as we age.
And as you approach your 65th birthday
three months before to three months after,
so there's a seven month window that you
are expected to sign up for Medicare.
You sign up even if you're still working,
and you can make some selections
that allow you to waive part of
Part B if you're still working,
have credible insurance,
but you must sign up during that
seven month period or you will
be subject to penalties later.
All right. And so we want to keep that,
that graphic that you just
saw there at the very bottom,
it said you're going to get a
penalty if you don't sign up at.
So I know that there's a lot of
you who are going to be asking
extra questions about that.
That's fine. Bring them on in.
Text us those questions. But that is,
it is the three months before your birthday.
The three months after your birthday.
That is when you need to sign u.
Otherwise you will pay a penalt.
All right. Let's talk health insurance.
Just overall Broadscape health insurance.
There's something, Steve,
called the family glitch.
What is the family glitch?
Sure. The the family glitch
is a really well kept secret.
It it's a brand new thing for 2023 and
basically what happens is the federal
government sets guidelines of what they
consider healthcare affordabili.
That just simply means the premiums that a
person is paying to have health insurance.
So what we're finding more and .
Is even if you are employed andu
have coverage through an employ,
if if you have that coverage.
And then you add up your premiu,
your spouse's premium and your children's
premiums if they're covered on the policy.
And you Add all three of those
together if if that number exces
9.5% of your annual earned inco.
You have what's called a family glitch,
which means the health insurancs
unaffordable and you then qualify for
the Affordable Care Act and can apply
for coverage through the ACA pl,
which a lot of times is a lot cheaper.
All right, that sounded complicated to me.
So it so basically it took to simplify it if.
If you are paying more than 9
1/2% of your annual earned incoe
for health insurance premiums,
you need to investigate getting
covered under the healthcare.gov
Affordable Care Act type plans.
And a lot of times that will sae
you money on your health insura.
OK. So you need to take a look d
see what your paychecks are, ri,
for the year and then how much u
paid out in premiums for the year and
see if it equals up to more tha.
And if so, then you need to be talking
to somebody about cheaper healthcare.
Absolutely. And and to put this in the
perspective and and I'm I'm thig
people are not aware of this or
they're not getting it because e
we're not getting a lot of actiy
on this in midyear and this is d
this is a great thing to investigate.
But let's say you're making $50,000 a
year and then you're paying pres
through your employer for yours,
your spouse and your children.
If that premium is exceeding $400.00 a month,
you qualify for the Affordable e
Act because that would be more n
9 1/2% of your annual earned in.
OK? And So what you would do thn
is then you would possibly opt
out of your own work insurance,
and then you would go to the
Affordable Care Act and look
for health insurance that way.
Right. And you need to investigate that.
And most of the time you're going to have
to talk with somebody at works in the,
you know, like an agent like me
or somebody in that field to to
help you navigate through that.
And here the beauty of that is for 2023,
the federal government is being
very lenient with an enrollment
period for this family glitch t.
Basically they're saying from
the time that you find out that
your Healthcare is unaffordable.
You have 60 days to sign up
for the Affordable Care Act.
So it's an open enrollment perid
for the whole year of 2023.
Basically when you find this out
and when you say find it out, when you,
like, get it like, oh, by the w,
I calculated it and it's coming.
OK, All right. All right.
We have basically, yes.
OK. All right, Catherine,
we've got a couple of questions.
This one always makes me kind o,
yeah, I know I get what you're saying.
They're saying who made-up this%
forever penalty if you missed the coverage?
And why is there a penalty to begin with?
So that's a very good question
is the penalty has been there
for as long as I can remember.
It is a penalty that's baked into the
administrative regulations of Medicare.
And unfortunately because
it is 10% each year it,
it lasts for the rest of your l.
So it really does make
it critically important.
That you sign up on time and mae
sure that all the i's and i's ae
dotted and the T's are crossed,
that you've done it correctly so that
you don't end up with a penalty later.
Yeah.
I mean, it's like anything else, right?
There's rules for everything that you
apply to and have and whatever .
And so that is the rule and it's
better for you to know it then r
you to not know it. All right.
We're going to continue taking your questions
coming up in the next segment, again,
336-379-5775.