Going from ACA to Medicare midyear. (plan, coverage, wife, apply)

[BOBNCHI]

Hi all. I thought I read somewhere and have searched around but I cannot locate it, now that I am trying to get the ducks in a row and will need the info.

Dw and I are currently in ACA however, in September I move to Medicare and she stays in ACA for the entire year. Other than this there are no other life changes. To make things easier during the transition,(and this is the part I thought I read somewhere), we would make DW the primary in ACA for 2019 and I would simply advise them of the Medicare change and be removed from ACA coverage. DW continues on, being the primary, without having to reapply or go through hoops to retain coverage. Has anyone else done or seen info about this? Does it make sense to do? Any pitfalls? Again, no other life changes will occur.

Thanks for the help!

[rothbear]

Just to make sure I'm clear. Are you planning to stay in the ACA until January 1st? Or dropping it in September? The reason that I ask is that you will automatically be enrolled in Medicare part A in September (I assume that is your birth month). You don't have to do anything. BUT.....you can't keep the ACA as well as be on Medicare. Well you can but you will lose any subsidies that you are getting. The law says that you can't have any other coverage when you are getting subsidies with ACA. If you are not, then the point is moot. You can wait to get Part B....I think it is 3 months from your birthday. Then you have 6 months from your birthday to get your Medigap. This was what happened to us. We were on ACA but DH went on Medicare in October, 2016 but I had to stay on ACA until the next July. I was able to cancel him out online through the ACA website.

I don't think you need to do anything with your ACA plan. All you need to do is cancel yourself and leave your wife on it. If you are getting subsidies you will need to be careful about your income. DH was only working part time and I was getting SS. DH held off getting his SS until January of the year I turned 65 so that we could avoid increasing our income.

I'm sure others will chime in with more info.

[Al Bumin]

Originally Posted by BOBNCHI

Hi all. I thought I read somewhere and have searched around but I cannot locate it, now that I am trying to get the ducks in a row and will need the info.

Dw and I are currently in ACA however, in September I move to Medicare and she stays in ACA for the entire year. Other than this there are no other life changes. To make things easier during the transition,(and this is the part I thought I read somewhere), we would make DW the primary in ACA for 2019 and I would simply advise them of the Medicare change and be removed from ACA coverage. DW continues on, being the primary, without having to reapply or go through hoops to retain coverage. Has anyone else done or seen info about this? Does it make sense to do? Any pitfalls? Again, no other life changes will occur.

Thanks for the help!

I'm interested in this as well. The .gov website, as far as I've seen, only mentions that you need to contact them when dropping the primary mid-year in ACA. There isn't a mention of changing the primary when filing for the new year, which would make it easier to drop the later-covered Medicare beneficiary.

Don't know if it's any easier to change a primary at the beginning of the year as opposed to mid-year, though. Or do you just have to cancel out the current application and start over...

[Slytrix]

Near as I can tell, you don't change anything until a change occurs. If a person is primary, then leave them there until they switch to Medicare.

There is also some confusion about how the premium is affected. It is calculated by household income but when either party drops off it is recalculated. Household income but with only one person needing coverage instead of two so the premium will go down some.