Medicare. At age 65 does Medicare automatically become everyone's primary

[rhett o rick]

health insurance?

[DURHAM D]

1. No - I think you have to qualify.

I heard while back that you have to pay into it for 10 years in order to qualify.

[williesgirl]

2. I believe you have to be on Soc Sec to qualify. I'm on disability, so I have it.

[fed-up]

3. I believe you have to apply AND sometimes they screw up the paperwork, my mom

spent a few month and multiple phone calls getting on medicare even though she already had Kaiser

her 65 birthday was in April, she finally got accepted on June 1st, had a massive stroke the very next day

she had started the paperwork process in Feb....

now there are also many decisions you have to make when you file

you can check with HICAP-a volunteer group-Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy Program

they were very helpful and I ended up getting mom almost 3 years of speech therapy as medicare rules are different than Kaiser's

as long as I had her therapist document improvement she was given additional approval-granted sometimes there was a month or so lag while they pushed paper around-I made tons of calls to keep things moving

that was 12 years ago and I am sure things are much more complicated now

[rhett o rick]

4. Sorry, poorly worded. If you qualify and you register then does it become your primary insurance

whether you want it or not? I think I heard that whatever private insurance you have will automatically bill Medicare first.

[Sgent]

5. Not always

The most common issue is that Group Health Plans usually are primary to Medicare.

[RebelOne]

6. No, I started collecting social security 3 years ago

and since I am still working full-time, I opted to stay on my employer's insurance plan.