Can you keep Social Security and not have Medicare Part B?

This numbskull is why you do not believe everything you read

"You need Part A and B. You cannot have Part A alone."

BS Part B is absolutely optional

Medicare is separate from Social Security. You need Part A and B. You cannot have Part A alone. If you dont want Medicare, dont enroll in it and buy private insurance. Medicare Advantage uses private insurance.

What you think you know is wrong. Social Security retirement eligibility is not affected in any way by Medicare. If you are entitled to a Social Security retirement benefit, Medicare Part A is free and automatic at 65, even if you have not yet begun to collect your SS. Medicare B is optional and you pay for it out of your SS, or if you are not yet collecting SS, Medicare bills you monthly for the Part B premium.

Part B is optional, but if you want it, you must sign up for it within three months after reaching 65. Once this initial enrollment period passes, there is a premium penalty that increases every month you let go by, and the premium penalty is roughly 10% for every year, and when you do sign up, the penalty is permanent - you pay the higher premium for life.

If you are working and covered by an employer plan, the penalty is waived as long as you sign up for Part B when you stop working. If you are retired and covered under an employer plan, you must still sign up during the initial enrollment period.

Many people sign up for Part B, and they pay the premium, but do not actually use Part B. They can choose a plan from a private company that works with Part's A and B, and often includes Part D prescription coverage. These are known as Medicare Advantage plans and they help to cover the 20% of expenses that Part B does not cover. With just Part B, if you have a doctor's bill that Medicare will allow $1,000 for, you must pay $200. These private plans cover most of that for you, all you pay is the plan's co-pay or co-insurance for that specific treatment. Many of these plans have very low or zero monthly premiums.

You might wonder how companies can afford this. Well, it's because Medicare saves money by not having to process the paperwork. They pay the insurance companies a certain amount each year for every participant. You are also required to be Part D (prescriptions) eligible when you sign up for one of these plans. This means that if you were not covered by an employer plan (even if retired) at the time you took an Advantage plan, you had to sign up for it and start paying the monthly premium within three months of reaching 65.

So, you can certainly go with a private insurer. Shop around. The Medicare Advantage plans are offered by national companies but are priced at the local regional level, your cost for the exact same zero premium plan I could get might be lower or higher. In just about every town, there are seminars offered where you can ask questions, and sit down with someone who can help you decide what plan is best for you.

Pay out of own pocket. Your choice. Private insurer. Where is this money coming and to whon do you pay your rent. Your money budget how you want.

part b is not required

If you are eligible for employer based insurance or retirement benefits through an employer or union, you don't need to accept medicare part B.

If you mean "private" insurance as in an individual health insurance plan for someone over age 65, it doesn't exist for most people. Warren Buffet or Larry Ellison might be able to purchase something, but it's not accessible to the common folk.

You don't NEED to receive social security in order to be entitled to Part B. Plenty of people have Medicare without also receiving monthly benefits. Just as plenty of people receive monthly benefits without signing up for Medicare. One has nothing to do with the other - they are NOT connected to each other.

It is only if you have SSI (which is not social security) and Medicaid that you are required to sign up for Parts A and B of Medicare to cut down on the costs of the Medicaid program.

If you are age 65 or older and are employee and have health insurance via your employer you don't have to sign up for Medicare Part B until you've retired. You can then sign up in the 7 month SEP (Special Enrollment Period). You must sign up within 60 days of the date employment ended. No penalty for late filing.

If you are age 65 or older and you or your spouse aren't employed and under an employer group health plan, then you need to sign up the month you are age 65 or the 3 months before or 3 months after (the IEP - Initial Enrollment Period). If you don't then you can't sign up until the GEP (general enrollment period) which is Jan thru March of every year. If you sign up in a GEP your monthly premium will be 10% for every year you could have signed up but didn't.

If you are eligible to sign up for Medicare and don't, private insurance will NOT pay any medical expenses which would have been covered by Medicare unless you go with a Medicare Advantage plan. So if you have a $1000 bill and Medicare would have paid $800 of it - your private insurance will NOT pay $800.

Medicare Part B premiums are around $135 a month; can't imagine where you could possibly get cheaper insurance through a private insurer.

Social Security and Medicare are not connected. For most people you can get reduced SS at age 62 while you cannot get Medicare until age 65. There are exceptions to both; if you're disabled you can get either or both at a younger age.

Alternately you can wait until age 70 to collect SS while still getting Medicare at age 65.

If you get Medicare you can still go with a private insurance company, either with a Medicare Supplement or a Medicare Advantage plan. These options are generally cheaper with lower out of pocket costs that not going with Medicare.

I've had clients that worked and were on a group policy until they were age 75 or more. They were collecting SS and had Medicare Part A but didn't get Part B until they retired.

Make sure you educate yourself before making a decision.

Don't know. Call medicare & ask to be sure.

probably not but you need to contact Medicare and ask them