With Medicare for Employees, Size Does Matter
Many seniors want to keep working past 65, but myths about how Medicare works alongside a job spread fast through friend groups and internet searches. Here's the honest, short version, plus an introduction to a service coming for HR administrators and SMB leaders called Plugin Business.
What you're required to do, and when, depends on your company's size. If your employer has fewer than 20 employees, you must enroll in Medicare at 65, even if the company offers its own insurance, because Medicare becomes your primary coverage. One side effect worth knowing: you'll no longer count toward the group plan's minimum participation requirements, which can matter for very small employers trying to keep their own plan active.
If your employer has 20 or more employees, you have a choice. Each year you can compare your company's plan against Medicare's options and pick whichever fits better, changing your mind year to year as long as you stay employed there. If you choose to stay on the company plan, you and your employer complete a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) L564 Employment Information form, so Medicare knows you have creditable coverage and won't bill you or apply penalties. If your job or company size changes later, a Special Enrollment Period gives you time to enroll in Medicare without penalty.
This is exactly the kind of situation Plugin Business is built for. Most HR departments and PEOs know less about Medicare than you'd expect. We work directly with eligible employees at no additional charge, the same as our retired clients, and we work with HR and leadership teams to help them stay compliant while making the case for a senior workforce that, by federal labor data, tends to stay with employers roughly three times longer than younger workers.
A formal launch is coming. For now, we hope this eases the Medicare questions your employees are quietly carrying, since staying useful and engaged is at the heart of the H.U.W.A. approach to a high-quality life.