nasa1974's Account Talk

[nasa1974]

Nasa,
Good luck in whatever decision you make. How do you think the future elections in the EU and elsewhere will impact the I Fund?

Thanks.

Right now short term, future elections in Europe should have little effect. News reports and all for the last few months hasn't had a big affect. In my opinion France could have an effect on the market depending what happens April 23rd. What is happening here in Washington could have some investors looking for short term gains in the European market before jumping back in here.

 

[Scout333]

Pulled the trigger. I am now 100% "I" fund.

Stay frosty my friend!!

 

[nasa1974]

Stay frosty my friend!!

Thanks Scout,

This is the first IFT have I have used since February 2016. The "S" fund has treated me pretty good. Looking to get back into the "S" sooner than later.

 

[nasa1974]

Signed up for Medicare plan "A" over the weekend. Pretty painless using the website. Took 2 months of research to figure out what I wanted to do. Talk about a racket. A lot of people earn their living off Medicare. Still changes coming once my wife is eligible. Maybe now the darn phone calls will stop. I bet I get at least a dozen or more a day that I let voicemail pickup. Fortunately most of them are hang-ups.

 

[PessOptimist]

Signed up for Medicare plan "A" over the weekend. Pretty painless using the website. Took 2 months of research to figure out what I wanted to do. Talk about a racket. A lot of people earn their living off Medicare. Still changes coming once my wife is eligible. Maybe now the darn phone calls will stop. I bet I get at least a dozen or more a day that I let voicemail pickup. Fortunately most of them are hang-ups.

One more step toward geezerdom. In about a week you should get your cheap cardboard Medicare ID card which is too big to fit in a standard wallet window. Yeah, I know, I'm still complaining about everything.

That research about what to do was not easy. Glad you figured out what was best for you and SO. My decisions were different, needed part B to keep the TriCare coverage alive.

My phone calls have not stopped, all are concerned I will end up on the street if I don't buy their coverage.

Hard to believe it has been almost five years since you left .gov service. I hope you are not having too good a time.

PO

 

[nasa1974]

One more step toward geezerdom. In about a week you should get your cheap cardboard Medicare ID card which is too big to fit in a standard wallet window. Yeah, I know, I'm still complaining about everything.

That research about what to do was not easy. Glad you figured out what was best for you and SO. My decisions were different, needed part B to keep the TriCare coverage alive.

My phone calls have not stopped, all are concerned I will end up on the street if I don't buy their coverage.

Hard to believe it has been almost five years since you left .gov service. I hope you are not having too good a time.

PO

Thanks PO.

Yep retired almost 5 years. After two years retired I get a phone call. They want me back as a contractor working out of the construction office. They showed me the money so I said yes.

Any way back to Medicare. So during my 2 months of research I ask a lady at SS if I need plan B since I have Federal BC/BS and she says no. Well I find out that I do have to sign up for plan B because my health insurance doesn't count. How stupid is that. So now have to make more phone calls and more research to figure out what I'll do when my wife turns 65 next year. What a pain in the behind.

Once I figure out what I will do I will post an update.

 

[nnuut]

Yep If I wanted to keep BCBS I had to get Part "B" and Medicare is the primary. So I have BCBS Basic and they do Drug prescriptions/medications so no Part "D" needed. It's worked out well.

 

[nasa1974]

Yep If I wanted to keep BCBS I had to get Part "B" and Medicare is the primary. So I have BCBS Basic and they do Drug prescriptions/medications so no Part "D" needed. It's worked out well.

Will look to switch from standard to basic during open season. My wife will have to sign up for Medicare next year so I need to research if it will be cheaper to keep BCBS or pick up supplemental coverage. I heard AARP is pretty good.

 

[Scout333]

Thanks PO.

Yep retired almost 5 years. After two years retired I get a phone call. They want me back as a contractor working out of the construction office. They showed me the money so I said yes.

Any way back to Medicare. So during my 2 months of research I ask a lady at SS if I need plan B since I have Federal BC/BS and she says no. Well I find out that I do have to sign up for plan B because my health insurance doesn't count. How stupid is that. So now have to make more phone calls and more research to figure out what I'll do when my wife turns 65 next year. What a pain in the behind.

Once I figure out what I will do I will post an update.

What did they mean your health insurance doesn't count?

 

[pmaloney]

I have been retired almost 4 years and I have Fed BCBS. No one ever said I had to have Medicare Part B and in a class before retiring an expert said I didn't need Part B. If you don't want to pay any deductibles you can have Part B and Fed BCBS and you should only have to pay deductibles on prescription drugs. Last year I turned 65 and got Medicare Part A as primary to Fed BCBS which is good to have as a backup to Part A.

Just an FYI but I would check it out again if I were you.

 

[nasa1974]

I was told by 2 different people at Social Security that my BCBS coverage I have through retirement will not prevent the 10% per year penalty if I do not sign up for Medicare Part B during my sign up period. Only health insurance through an employer will exempt you from the 10% per year penalty if you decide to sign up for it after your sign up period. So If I don't get Plan B this year but sign up for it in 2018 it will cost me an additional 10% if I wait until 2019 it will cost me an additional 20% and so on.

evilanne, you are correct that you don't have to sign up for Plan B but if you decide a few years from now that you want plan B it will cost you 10% per year for every year past your initial sign up date.

 

[clester]

I was told by 2 different people at Social Security that my BCBS coverage I have through retirement will not prevent the 10% per year penalty if I do not sign up for Medicare Part B during my sign up period. Only health insurance through an employer will exempt you from the 10% per year penalty if you decide to sign up for it after your sign up period. So If I don't get Plan B this year but sign up for it in 2018 it will cost me an additional 10% if I wait until 2019 it will cost me an additional 20% and so on.

evilanne, you are correct that you don't have to sign up for Plan B but if you decide a few years from now that you want plan B it will cost you 10% per year for every year past your initial sign up date.

So do you think it's worth getting partB?



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[nasa1974]

So do you think it's worth getting partB?



Sent from my iPhone using TSP Talk Forums

If you plan to keep your Federal coverage no matter what I would say probably not. You also have to decide if it is a financially good decision to have it or not. Right now Plan B is $143.00 a month, I believe. Plan B covers your doctor visits. Plan A and B does not cover dental, hearing or eye care. So if you need this coverage it would be additional coverage on top of your Federal insurance. So you need to compare Federal + A + B and your extra coverage or Medicare Plan A + B and a supplemental as far as overall cost. So you really need to do your research and pick what best fits your situation.

 

[evilanne]

I've got awhile to go before I need to worry about it but it looks like breakeven if you don't go to the doctor very often would be 10 years, whether you wait 2, 5, 10 years or more. The savings from not paying the premium for X years would be at breakeven 10 years (it would less if you pay for services that would be covered by medicare) after starting to pay the higher rate, after that it would cost you more if you have a very long life expectancy. From OPM:

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/medicare/medicare-part-b-coverage/

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/medicare/medicare-vs-fehb-enrollment/

 

[nasa1974]

I've got awhile to go before I need to worry about it but it looks like breakeven if you don't go to the doctor very often would be 10 years, whether you wait 2, 5, 10 years or more. The savings from not paying the premium for X years would be at breakeven 10 years (it would less if you pay for services that would be covered by medicare) after starting to pay the higher rate, after that it would cost you more if you have a very long life expectancy. From OPM:

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/medicare/medicare-part-b-coverage/

https://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/healthcare/medicare/medicare-vs-fehb-enrollment/

If you are in pretty good health and see your various doctors once or twice a year, your out of pocket should be less than the Part B monthly cost. However, you have to remember that if you do not sign up for Part B in your 7 month enrollment period you will pay a 10% penalty per year that you have not signed up. So if I do not sign up for Part B now and wait until 2018 I will pay a 10% penalty, 2019 - 20%, 2020 - 30% and so on. So if I wait until 2020 to sign up for Part B I will be paying a 30% penalty for Part B for as long as I carry Part B. It is not a one time penalty.

Part B covers 80% of your doctor expenses then your FEHB will or should pay the final 20%.

You also have to compare your FEHB insurance to the Medicare Advantage/Supplemental coverage (there are too many of these but I heard AARP is pretty good) as far as which has better coverage and cost. Also most if not all Advantage/Supplemental insurance covers dental, eye and hearing care. But these plans can change early so you have to stay up on the latest program.

 

[nasa1974]

So March was not treating the "S" fund kindly and the "I" fund is surprising everyone and since April historically was a good month for the "I" fund I jumped ship out of the"S" for the first time in over a year and got into the "I" fund. Well, I forgot all about Brexit and the "I" fund has not been doing very good since. So, hoping that the "I" fund can recover a little better than the "S" fund, I'm looking to maybe jump back into "S" sooner than later. Maybe even seeing a share increase in the "S" fund. But that will be a day to day decision. For May I'm looking to possibly go 50/50 "CS" since the last few years those two funds have been very close to each other and either one could have a nice month.

Good luck everyone.

I have attached the May information.


View attachment May.xlsx

 

[2moryrs]

Good discussion on the FEHB/Medicare B issue. Whatever you decide about your FEHB, NEVER CANCEL IT, NEVER CANCEL IT. Tell OPM you want to SUSPEND YOUR ENROLLMENT. That way you keep your option open to start it up again if your other choices should not turn out so great. Once you CANCEL your FEHB enrollment, you can never get it back again. Always be cautious of "advice" regarding your earned benefits. Check with OPM before you make your final decisions.

IMHO

2moryrs-not

 

[nasa1974]

Good discussion on the FEHB/Medicare B issue. Whatever you decide about your FEHB, NEVER CANCEL IT, NEVER CANCEL IT. Tell OPM you want to SUSPEND YOUR ENROLLMENT. That way you keep your option open to start it up again if your other choices should not turn out so great. Once you CANCEL your FEHB enrollment, you can never get it back again. Always be cautious of "advice" regarding your earned benefits. Check with OPM before you make your final decisions.

IMHO

2moryrs-not

2moryrs,

Thanks for the advice. I have been told by others to suspend not cancel FEHB, if I go that direction. Since I have to keep BCBS at least one more year I plan to go from standard to basic during open season, that should save me a few dollars and not affect any of our doctors. My wife will apply for Medicare early next year so then I have to look at best cost vs. coverage. Will it be cheaper to keep BCBS basic + Medicare Plan B for both of us and try and pick up dental and eye care or go the Advantage/Supplemental direction. Not planning on starting up Social Security for another 2-3 years for both of us. I figure I need to have everything figured out by open season 2018.

 

[nasa1974]

It's been awhile since the markets had a nice upswing. Like coolhand said this is pretty much politically driven. Let's hope we have some positive movement for the week. Still planning to go 50/50 by Friday. That gives me 2 IFT's for May. Monday could be a real crap shoot since we don't know what Congress will do. My guess is we will see an extension of the CR which I think will keep the C&S flat. I don't think the D's and R's want to shutdown the government. As long as 45 keeps his nose out of it we might even see a budget by Friday, but I doubt it.

For the French election if Macron wins we could see another surge in the stocks Monday, May 8th.

Of course this is all guess work and shaking my magic 8 ball hasn't helped much.

 

[nasa1974]

Still planning to go 50/50 "CS" by end of the week so that I have two IFT's for May. Not sure what good two IFT's will do me since I'll be in Alaska for two weeks. But I will have two IFT's and a chance to sit down at a computer late in the day.

I don't see a budget being passed by Friday. More than likely the CR will be extended out maybe two more weeks. No shutdown should be good for the market. Talk of tax reform won't hurt and could bolster the market if both D's and R's work something out in early May. The French elections will be interesting. The "I" fund might flatten out a little going into the elections, it appears they like Macron. In my opinion if Le Pen pulls out a surprise win the markets will go into a tailspin similar to the upswing we have seen the last few days.