Navigating Retirement & Medicare: A Guide for Federal & Military Retirees

Retirement can be a time of relaxation and leisure, but preparing for retirement means work for a lot of people. Researching and asking the right questions to make sure your Medicare and retirement health benefits are coordinated correctly will pay off.

Federal Retirees

• Federal retirees in the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program do not require Medicare. If they take Medicare, their retiree insurance acts as a supplemental insurance to Medicare.

Military Retirees

• Military retirees who receive TRICARE for Life (TFL) must take Medicare. TFL will then work as a secondary, supplemental insurance to Medicare.

Social Security Retirement

• Beneficiaries who receive Social Security retirement or Railroad Retirement benefits when they reach retirement eligibility age will be automatically enrolled into traditional Medicare.

Other Retirees

• Retiree insurance always works as a supplement to Medicare. Several retiree policies require beneficiaries to have Medicare and will recoup payments if they find out the beneficiary was Medicare eligible.

Drug Coverage

• Beneficiaries should find out of their retiree drug coverage is considered "creditable," or as good as Medicare's Part D drug coverage. If so, they do not need to take Part D. Some retiree plans may not allow beneficiaries to take the Part D benefit at risk of losing the rest of their benefits, while other retiree plans have drug plans that are made specifically to coordinate with Part D.