This is Dan Vagabond awake and, uh, if you’re deciding to retire overseas, should you still enroll in US Medicare insurance when you’re eligible at age 65? In this video, I’m inviting an expert in US Medicare choices to help us sift through these choices that all American overseas retirees must make.
Today, we’ve invited Dr. Ed Weir, PhD, a former Social Security Manager, who shares everything about US Medicare on his channel at myGov Expert. Dr. Ed, welcome to the channel.
This text is an automated translation of the above video interview. If there is any conflict between the text and the above video, the video contains the correct version.
Dr. Ed: Thank you. Thank you for having me. Uh, I’m not in a, a beautiful place like you, but, uh, I’ll, I’ll do the best as I can. I think I have one fake plant here. So we’ll see if I can beat the competition here.
Dan: First, tell us a little bit about your former life at Social Security. So my audience understands why I’ve asked you to be a guest, uh, [00:01:00] on this important subject.
Dr. Ed: Sure, yeah. I ran the, uh, the third busiest social security office in the country that’s in, uh, Vegas. Um, there are a few retirees in Vegas, so, you know, that’s, uh, that’s, it’s why it’s the third busiest. Mm-hmm. Um, so I ran that, uh, I retired early before that. I know a lot of expats over there were prior military.
I’m an old Marine Corps sergeant myself there, so, uh. I spent a lot of time overseas myself. Um, so I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to reach out to people who are overseas, and they have, yeah, they do have a lot of questions about Medicare. I do a live Q&A pretty much every day, and, and, and invariably someone comes in and says, Okay, what should I do about Medicare? So I’m happy to talk about it.
Dan: Perfect. And thank you for your service, Dr. Ed. Um, ed, I recently turned 65, so time is running out for me. I need to decide whether to enroll in, uh, US Medicare or not. Uh, can you tell us the timeframe for enrolling in Medicare as our 65th birthday approaches?
Dr. Ed: Exactly. Okay. So there are a couple of situations.
If you’re currently receiving Social Security benefits, they’re gonna sign you up automatically, about a hundred days before you turn 65. They will send you your entire packet in the mail. Um, so if you are living overseas, if you’ve got, you know, someone that’s your sister or brother taking care of that, or if you’ve got, uh, you know, one of those virtual post offices, you have to keep an eye on that.
Um, and you’ll receive your packet in the mail, and they will sign you up automatically for part A and part B. That’s if you’re currently receiving Social Security benefits, whether it’s retirement benefits, survivor benefits, or spouse benefits. If you’re not currently receiving Social Security benefits, then they won’t do anything.
Um, and you have to make the decision whether you want to go ahead and sign up for part A or part B, uh, or part A and part B. If you don’t at 65 and you don’t have creditable coverage, then you will be penalized for the rest of your life. So if you say, well, I’m 65 and I’m living overseas in Kula Lumpur or, you know, Panama, or whatever the place may be, um, and so I don’t need it.
Um, I’m not sick anyway. And then a year, two years, three years later. What I see quite often with expats is they say, Well, I don’t need, I’ve never come back to the United States. I’m sure you’re aware that many people travel overseas and spend a few weeks there, which is a completely different experience from actually living in the country.
Um, so after about a year, they get sick or homesick or the political situation changes in their particular country, and they have to go back to the United States. And once they go back, if they didn’t have health insurance, if they didn’t sign up for Medicare when they were supposed to, they’re gonna be penalized 10% for every 12 months.
They did not have. Medicare, and that’s for the rest of your life. So 10% of the monthly premium, which this year is $185 a month, and there’s a penalty for Part D, the prescription drug plan, which is 1% per month. So you got a lot of penalties there. And unfortunately, what happens I see happen all the time is people get sick overseas and then they come back to the United States in April, May, June, July, or something like that.
And they’ve got nothing because they can’t, they’re outside of their initial enrollment period, and they can’t sign up until January, February, or March. So if you sign up in January, your part B will start on February 1st. Again, you’re gonna be paying the penalties for the rest of your life.
So I would recommend that if you know 100% for sure you’re never coming back to the United States, then that’s one thing. But if there’s ever an outside possibility. You, you might just wanna, you know, check it out. And there are some countries where it is considered credible coverage. Um, I’ve spent a lot of time in Japan, and the Japanese national health insurance is considered creditable coverage, but a lot of other countries aren’t.
Therefore, you would need to have coverage in the United States.
Dan: Wow, that’s brilliant. Um, great. Thank you so much. That’s very important information for people. Ed, so I, I have been, uh, reading online, and it seems like there’s a lot of negativity about Medicare Advantage plans these days. People are saying they’re being nickel and dimed to death, uh, on their Medicare Advantage plans because they have to pay copays and can only go to sure approved doctors within managed care systems.
Um, do you generally recommend Medicare Supplement plans to avoid these surprises for people who generally live year-round in the USA?
Dr. Ed: Absolutely. Yeah. And I always recommend checking out both options. So, anytime you call someone you know who helps with Medicare plans. They are required to review both options, either a Medicare supplement plan or a Medicare Advantage plan, and provide you with the details, after which you can make your decision.
I always recommend trying your best to get a Medicare supplement plan. I recommend Plan N, because I’m cheap like that, and the monthly premiums are cheaper, or Plan G is fine. Either one of those is fine. If you can’t afford the monthly premium, there is a monthly premium on that. Plan N generally across the country, you’re looking at about 80 bucks a month.
Uh, plan G about 20% more than that. Um, and then you also need to get a standalone Part D plan with a Medicare Advantage plan. The law, you know, most of those are zero premium. It’s actually illegal for Medicare insurance agents to say, Hey, it’s zero premium. That means free. And the reason it’s not free and they’re not allowed to say that is because exactly what you just said.
They charge for everything else. You know, you go to a specialist, it might be $35, you go to a hospital, it might be a hundred dollars a night or $500 a night. And then there’s prior authorizations, and then there’s networks, and yeah, if you’re able to afford a Medicare supplement plan. Please get a Medicare supplement plan.
If you can’t afford it, then, uh, a Medicare Advantage plan is, yeah, it’s, it’s better than having nothing alone because if you just have part A and part B, unless you’ve got a few million dollars hidden in your hammock back there, um, then you’re gonna have a lot of gaps. The big one is part B. There’s a 20% co-insurance.
That means if you go to the doctor and get a hundred thousand-dollar band-aid. You have to pay $20,000 for that bandaid, 20%. Um, so unless you have a lot of money, you need to get either a Medicare Supplement plan or a Medicare Advantage plan.
Dan: Great. Um, so Ed, so there are three kinds of people that generally, retire overseas from the USA
Live part of the year or all the entire year overseas. And I wanna ask you about that.
In my category, every other year, I usually spend, uh, like less than a month, usually a week or two, visiting family and friends in the US every other year. So there’s a good chance that if some medical issue arises in my life, I’ll be living outside the US when that happens.
So I’m presently carrying an international insurance policy ’cause I move around the world a lot. That will cover me anywhere outside the US, but not in the us. And I routinely have my checkups wherever I am in the world, overseas once per year. But if I were diagnosed with something dangerous and I decided to fly home to the US to get treated, what would be the lowest-cost Medicare I could buy?
That would keep that door open for those situations. One of my listeners on my channel suggested I buy a rebate Medicare Advantage plan for part A and B that offers rebates of part B monthly premium so that my monthly cost would be the lowest, but I would still have coverage in the US if I decide to fly home for such a case.
Does that make sense to you, or are there other ideas you have about it?
Dr. Ed: Yeah, absolutely. If, uh, um, that’s what a lot of people do if they, if they can’t afford the Medicare supplement plan, the monthly premium, and they wanna [00:09:00] save as much money as problem, uh, as possible, they get the Medicare Advantage zero premium, but there’s, yeah, it’s called a Part B give back plan.
Um, uh, there are a lot of changes for 2026, so it depends on what’s available. ‘Cause you have to sign up for a particular plan that’s available in your area. Wherever you’re located back in the United States. So what these are, they’re as, as, as the name applies, it’s a part B give back. So you sign up for the Medicare Advantage plan, and it’s zero premium per month.
Um, and then if there’s one of these available, it pays you, it pays for part of your part B. So your part B is $185. We don’t know what it’s gonna be for 2026, yet it should come out in about a week or so. Um. But it pays for that part B, either $50, a hundred dollars, $185. But the problem with those is that they are good if you’re young and healthy, you know, 65, 66, 67, or whatever young, um, is.
These are health insurance companies. Uh, you know, I hate to break the news to you, but they’re in it for a profit. So, if you have a Medicare Advantage regular plan and one that pays for your Part B, those health insurance companies will get that money back. So this one over here is a hundred dollars a night for a hospital.
This one, $400 a night for a hospital. This one, zero for a specialist. This one, $50. This is so they’re gonna get their money back if you use it. If you don’t use it. So I get a lot of people who go ahead and sign up for part B, give back when they’re 65, 66, 67, and then they say, okay, well, yeah, I’m getting older.
I’m, you know, I need, I’m probably gonna need to do this, that, and the other. So they switch, the time you can switch is from October 15th to December 7th. So that’s what a lot of people do is they’re switching like from a, you know, one of those part B give backs that doesn’t have a lot of. Good coverage underneath.
And they say, well, uh, should I, should I roll the dice for another year and get that, you know, $50, a hundred dollars? Or is it time for me to get a little bit more coverage and then [00:11:00] switch to a regular plan? So you just have to, you have to throw that dice.
Dan: Wow. That’s just a brilliant answer. Very, uh, helpful and.
Your expertise is just amazing. Um, so other retirees routinely fly home for a month or two every other year to spend with family and friends a month or two every other year. Uh, and they routinely schedule their appointments with their US stock before they fly home. Before they fly home, they get all their medical checkups, advice from their US doctors during their annual visits to the us, and they plan on getting any major medical problems that arise while they are in the us.
Some of them also have a local country plan where they live overseas in case of emergency, and others do not carry any health insurance when they’re overseas. What type of US Medicare plan would you recommend for someone like that?. They regularly expect to use Medicare for their healthcare when they’re visiting family and friends for a few months, uh, every other year or so.
Dr. Ed: Yeah, every other year. Again, if you’ve got the money, then a Medicare supplement plan. Um, and that way you can go to any, there’s no limitations on what doctor, you can choose what hospital or anything like that. If the doctor, hospital, or clinic takes Medicare, there are no networks. There are no prior authorizations.
If your doctor says you need X, Y, or Z, then that’s it. Done. End of story. With the Medicare Advantage, you have limited networks, and those are changing all the time. And then the insurance company can get in between your doctor and you and second-guess. So if you’re able to afford it, and, and, and the, the, you know, people say, oh, you know, it sounds like I’ve heard that before.
And other people, and that’s ’cause these, you know, these companies and these people that sell these plans want more money. They want you to pay a monthly premium. No, everybody. Makes more the insurance company, the people that sign you up, they make more money signing you up for the zero premium Medicare Advantage Plan, everybody makes less money.
The, the, the, the one that cost you, you know, $80 a hundred dollars a month. The American Healthcare system is completely counterintuitive and 100% illogical from day one. Um, but if you’re able to do it, then, then go for it. Medicare Advantage. Um, you just have to make sure that every year your plan covers your particular doctor, your particular specialist that you wanna see, um, your hospital that you want to go to, and if you have prescriptions, you have to make sure it covers your prescriptions and your saving as much money for those prescriptions next year in 2026.
A lot of these health insurance companies. Are going for, you know, to maximize profit. They, they’re just like any company, they’re either in the, kind of the expansion phase where they want to, you know, sell as much or, you know, enroll as many clients as possible. Or they’re in the, okay, let’s kind of stay where we’re at and see how much money we can make off each person, you know, maximize the margins.
Next year they’re in the, the maximize the margin phase. So a lot of people are checking their plans for 2026 and seeing. That, you know, these companies are cutting back, you know, charging you more for hospital, more for specialists, more for prescriptions and stuff like that. So as long as you keep up on the Medicare Advantage every year, um, then you should be good.
So if you need someone, you know, I’ve got people on my website that you can reach out to, um, and they’ll help you out. But, uh, yeah, you just have, it takes a little bit more effort to do the Medicare Advantage versus a a Medicare supplement plan.
Dan: That’s great. And also thanks for mentioning that you can do that transfer, uh, October, December window in case you realize your costs are gonna go up for whatever reason.
Uh, it’s great to know you can switch from Advantage over to a supplement. Uh, I think that’s what you said.
Dr. Ed: Um, yeah. In switching, um, it, to get to a Medicare Advantage plan, you can do that. Um, you know, um, you have a lot of opportunity to switch to a Medicare Advantage plan, to a Medicare supplement.
Once you change, once you pick a Medicare advantage plan at 65 or whenever, um, it, depending on the state you live in, your home address. It’s more difficult to switch to a Medicare supplement plan because there’s underwriting. So if you’re, you know, you have been receiving a Medicare Advantage plan for two or three or four years, and then you say, you know what?
I’m tired of the networks and the prior authorizations. I’m gonna switch to a Medicare supplement plan if you’re healthy. Should have no issues whatsoever. If you’re not, then they can deny you, um, because you have to go through health underwriting. They ask you about 30 to 35 questions, and if you say yes, or there are some that you can say yes, and like if you have diabetes, but if it’s under control, then you should be good.
But if you have to take a lot of insulin, the company can deny you and say, yeah, we’re not give you, we’re not gonna give you a Medicare supplement plan. You’re stuck in a Medicare Advantage plan for the rest of your life. Um, so. It’s important to make the right decision from the beginning.
Dan: That’s great. Um, thanks for sharing that. That’s very important. So another kind of, uh, listener of my snowbirds, they’ll spend maybe half the year in the us, half the year, wherever their favorite spot or spots are outside the us. Um, what, what sort of Medicare comes to mind for you? Uh, when you hear that?
Dr. Ed: Uh, probably again, uh, the, uh, a lot of expats because they think they’re never coming back, and, you know, they don’t want to pay the monthly, you know, Medicare Supplement plan. Um, so they get the Medicare Advantage plan. Technically, you have to come back regularly. You actually have to live in that area.
Um, so if you’re kind of a permanent expat, then there might be issues, but, uh, if you have a residence and wherever you have that residence, because the Medicare Advantage plans are based on essentially your zip code. So they’re all different. So there’s thousands of thousands of thousands of Medicare Advantage plans throughout the country.
And it all depends on exactly where you live. It’s based on zip codes. Um, so whatever’s available in your area, you go ahead and sign up for. Um, at starting October 15th to December 7th, you can review it for the following year to see if, uh, it’s still the best plan. If you don’t, then they just automatically re-enroll you in that same plan.
Um, and, but same plan scare quotes there, because it might be the same name and the same company, but all of the details. Like this year you were charged a hundred dollars for a hospital and next year they, um, you know, jumped it up to $400. You were paying zero for specialists this year. Next year it’s $50.
So they have Medicare Advantage plans. They’re only good for one year. So they all expired December 31st at the end of the year. And if you don’t do anything, they rere renew, but the company has the right to change pretty much anything they want with those plans within federal regulations.
Dan: If I start Medicare now but later decide that I actually am gonna stay overseas and I like my coverage and I like the future of my coverage, um, can I decide to drop it later? And the Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security will quit deducting it from my check.
Dr. Ed: Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. So if you decide that you’re never, never, never coming back and you’re tired of that $185 or whatever it’s gonna be for next year being withheld every month, then you contact Social Security and you fill out this form, and then that’s it. And then your Medicare supplement, you lose that, you lose your Medicare advantage, you lose your uh, part D plan, and then you lose your part B.
Um, but remember. If you change your mind later, then you can’t sign up until January, February, or March, and then you’ll pay the penalties for however much time you didn’t have that coverage.
Dan: Tell us the name of your channel and what you talk about on there. Obviously, Medicare, but I listened to you from time to time, and I especially love the videos. Uh, when you share something important about [00:18:00] Medicare, then you take questions from your listeners. What days of the week or times do you post your videos on your channel, and what’s the name of it?
Dr. Ed: Yeah. I do a, it’s my gov expert.com, my gov expert, you just type in Dr. Ed Weir and I. Today I talk about the five top myths about social security, Medicare. So I, I talk about retirement benefits, survivor benefits, spouse benefits, Medicare, Medicaid. So I, I pick a topic of the day and I talk about that for about 5, 10, 15 minutes.
And then I do a live Q&A and I answer questions for the other 45 minutes or so. And I do that three o’clock west coast time, six o’clock east coast time every single day. Although my wife says I have to take a break for three days here, so I’ll be back again tomorrow, but for three days I’ll be out, but I’ll be, I do it 99% of the time.
I do it every single day. Seven days a week, three o’clock West coast time. And then I’ve got a website, uh, my gov expert.com that I’ve got a bunch of information, I’ve got a [00:19:00] separate section on living overseas. ’cause I get a lot of expats that come in. And we talk about, uh, you know, the fact that you can live in, you live anywhere in the world as long as it’s not, uh, North Korea.
Or Cuba. So if you’re wanting to enjoy the beautiful beaches of North Korea, then uh, yeah, you’re, you can’t get your social security benefit in those particular countries, but anywhere else you can get it, even if it’s SSDI, social Security, disability Insurance, SSI. Supplemental security income, that’s an entirely different program, but if you’re receiving disability, you can live anywhere in the world if you’re, except for those two countries, if you’re receiving survivor benefits, uh, yeah, you just have to make sure Social Security has your address In Social Security, they have two addresses.
They have your residence address and they have your mailing address. So you can have your residence address where you’re, are, your, your parents, or your, you know, siblings or whatever, or virtual post office. Um. Then your residence, you can make it overseas if you so wish. Great.
Dan: And thanks so much for coming on the channel again.
I’m gonna invite you back, uh, people leave questions in the, um, if you’re not gonna go to Edge Channels now, hunter Round, or even if you do leave some questions in the comments and I’ll, and I’ll invite head back and, and to answer more of your questions. Thanks so much Ed, for coming on. Alright.
Dr. Ed: Appreciate it. Thank you for having me. And uh, next time I’ll be next to the, uh, next to you at the beach hopefully.