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Which is better, your Employer Plan or Medicare?

Which is better, your Employer Plan or Medicare?

Many people make many costly mistakes with their Medicare decisions.

Today, I want to share with you one of the biggest and most frequent mistakes I come across and how you can avoid it.

In recent years, more and more people are working past age 65, which leads to more people having health insurance through their employer well past 65.

This can lead to confusion because you aren’t sure whether to stay on your employer plan or join Medicare.

Most people assume that their retiree benefits package or employer plan is the better choice than Medicare. However, that’s not always the case.

If you assume that your current employer or retirement plan will work best for you once you’ve hit 65, you could be making a huge costly mistake. I often find that many on these plans don’t necessarily make sense for people to stay on once they turn 65.

It’s a common misconception that just because you can stay on an employer or retiree benefit plan that you should. The decision you make depends on your specific plan. I was recently helping a woman in Washington State trying to decide to between staying with her employer plan or enrolling in Medicare. After comparing both plans, we found out that she would be able to save $13,000 in the first year alone by joining Medicare.

Not everyone saves this much money, but the differences can be significant.

My recommendation is you look to see if Medicare is a better fit for you if you are paying $250 or more each month per person for your employer health care, and you have out-of-pocket expenses of $2,000.

Many other factors also go into this decision including if you have family members on your employer plan and whether or not you are a business owner.

If you want to explore the differences between your employer health insurance and Medicare, please contact us at pwa@keatinginc.com. Or, to access a free Medicare webinar through one of our affiliated companies, visit https://join.themedicarecoach.com/free-workshop.

Opinions expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Raymond James. The information has been obtained from sources considered to be reliable, but we do not guarantee that the foregoing material is accurate or complete. Raymond James and its advisors do not offer tax or legal advice. You should discuss any tax or legal matters with the appropriate professional.