By Brian Thede, Employers Coalition for Healthcare, Inc. (ECHI)
For many years employers have known that providing quality group health insurance is a way to attract and retain quality, productive employees. But what happens when those workers reach age 65 and become eligible for Medicare?
Whether they are retiring from work or not, factoring Medicare into their health care often requires some important and complicated decisions to be made.
Determining how Medicare coordinates with a group health plan depends on the size of the group. Generally, under a small group plan with 20 or fewer employees, Medicare becomes the primary health coverage as soon as the employee or retiree becomes eligible.
Selecting a health plan to coordinate with Medicare can be confusing. Those with Medicare as primary coverage are faced with choosing from a myriad of supplemental policies and prescription plans to make sure they have adequate health insurance coverage.
This is why Group Medicare Plans are becoming the next step in benefit offerings.
A business with a Group Medicare Plan can help make the transition much smoother from an administrative and paperwork perspective. Unlike having employees and retirees seek their own individual benefits, a Group Medicare Plan provides a single point of contact for questions and information. A plan representative is able to help with every aspect of the plan, including claims.
These plans not only help the business to retain talent and show appreciation for their workforce, but also are easy to set up. The employer can contribute anything from $0 up to the full amount toward employee premiums. Members may be billed as a group or individually.
Retirees, as well as employees with Medicare as primary coverage are eligible for group coverage. With numerous options to choose from, a plan can be set up to best suit the needs of the workforce. It is even possible to build custom plans for certain groups.
Underwriting is not required so pre-existing health conditions are not a problem. Plus there are coverage options for retirees who live outside of Illinois.
Medicare Group plans typically have more pharmaceutical options than individual policies. Prescription drug coverage through the coverage gap can be included on a Group Medicare Plan whereas it is generally not available on an individual policy.
Group Medicare plans are designed to more closely resemble the group health insurance that provided coverage before a worker turned 65. Employer sponsored Medicare Plans allow access to a broad network of doctors, hospitals, and health care professionals providing top notch care and services.
If you are interested in discussing Group Medicare Plans in more detail, please contact the Employers’ Coalition for Healthcare, Inc. at 309-829-6344 or visit www.getechi.com.
The Employers’ Coalition for Healthcare, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the McLean County Chamber of Commerce.
Photo credit: vgajic/iStock