We are an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. Our goal is to help you make smarter financial decisions by providing you with interactive tools and financial calculators, publishing original and objective content, by enabling you to conduct research and compare information for free - so that you can make financial decisions with confidence.
Bankrate has partnerships with issuers including, but not limited to, American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Chase, Citi and Discover.
How We Make Money.
The offers that appear on this site are from companies that compensate us. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site, including, for example, the order in which they may appear within the listing categories. But this compensation does not influence the information we publish, or the reviews that you see on this site. We do not include the universe of companies or financial offers that may be available to you.
At Bankrate we strive to help you make smarter financial decisions. While we adhere to strict
, this post may contain references to products from our partners. Here’s an explanation for
Editorial Integrity
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that we’re putting your interests first. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions.
Key Principles
We value your trust. Our mission is to provide readers with accurate and unbiased information, and we have editorial standards in place to ensure that happens. Our editors and reporters thoroughly fact-check editorial content to ensure the information you’re reading is accurate. We maintain a firewall between our advertisers and our editorial team. Our editorial team does not receive direct compensation from our advertisers.
Editorial Independence
Bankrate’s editorial team writes on behalf of YOU – the reader. Our goal is to give you the best advice to help you make smart personal finance decisions. We follow strict guidelines to ensure that our editorial content is not influenced by advertisers. Our editorial team receives no direct compensation from advertisers, and our content is thoroughly fact-checked to ensure accuracy. So, whether you’re reading an article or a review, you can trust that you’re getting credible and dependable information.
How We Make Money
You have money questions. Bankrate has answers. Our experts have been helping you master your money for over four decades. We continually strive to provide consumers with the expert advice and tools needed to succeed throughout life’s financial journey.
Bankrate follows a strict editorial policy, so you can trust that our content is honest and accurate. Our award-winning editors and reporters create honest and accurate content to help you make the right financial decisions. The content created by our editorial staff is objective, factual, and not influenced by our advertisers.
We’re transparent about how we are able to bring quality content, competitive rates, and useful tools to you by explaining how we make money.
Bankrate.com is an independent, advertising-supported publisher and comparison service. We are compensated in exchange for placement of sponsored products and, services, or by you clicking on certain links posted on our site. Therefore, this compensation may impact how, where and in what order products appear within listing categories. Other factors, such as our own proprietary website rules and whether a product is offered in your area or at your self-selected credit score range can also impact how and where products appear on this site. While we strive to provide a wide range offers, Bankrate does not include information about every financial or credit product or service.
If you’re 65 or getting close, still working and eligible for your employer’s health insurance, you still shouldn’t ignore Medicare.
Medicare is a complex part of retirement planning, says Adrienne Muralidharan, senior Medicare specialist for Allsup, a company that offers help in choosing the best Medicare plan. “A lot of people are completely bewildered by the whole thing,” she says.
Here’s her advice for people who are 65 but still working and not yet enjoying retirement:
If you are eligible for Medicare and working for an employer that offers health insurance and has more than 20 employees, generally, the company can’t legally dump you off its policy. Your employer’s insurance will continue to be your primary coverage. Even if that’s the case, be sure to sign up for Social Security during the seven-month window beginning three months before the month you turn 65. If you don’t sign up and let Medicare know you have what it calls “credible coverage” by filling out the information on the back of the application form and submitting it, there will be a financial penalty when you do eventually need Medicare.
If you work for an employer with fewer than 20 employees, the rules are different, and your employer will be able to opt out of providing you with primary coverage. In that case, you must sign up for Medicare as your primary insurance. You’ll also want to ask your employer what happens to any coverage for your dependents — spouse or children. It is very likely that they will be cut off as well, although they’ll have the option of taking COBRA, which stands for Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, for 18 months.
Even if you work for a large employer, you may decide to make Medicare your backup provider and pay for Part B, a Medigap or a Medicare Advantage plan, and a Part D prescription drug plan. That’s because these plans are much more generous than many private health care plans, although new Medicare recipients are often surprised at the full cost of Medicare. Still, if you have a serious or chronic condition, it pays to take a hard look at this option.
Share