Retirement

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal agency that administers the Medicare program and monitors the Medicaid programs offered by each state. Medicare makes it easy for you to get information. You can find answers to general questions about eligibility, coverage, and Medicare Summary Notices (MSNs) on this Web site. You can also compare health and drug plans, Medigap policies, hospitals, nursing homes, and more! For specific questions about your claims, medical records, or expenses, visit MyMedicare.gov, or call 1-800-MEDICARE .

When you first become eligible for hospital insurance (Part A), you have a seven-month period (your initial enrollment period) in which to sign up for medical insurance (Part B). A delay on your part will cause a delay in coverage and result in higher premiums. If you are eligible at age 65, your initial enrollment period begins three months before your 65th birthday, includes the month you turn age 65 and ends three months after that birthday. If you are eligible for Medicare based on disability or permanent kidney failure, your initial enrollment period depends on the date your disability or treatment began. If you accept the automatic enrollment in Medicare Part B, or if you enroll in Medicare Part B during the first three months of your initial enrollment period, your medical insurance protection will start with the month you are first eligible. If you enroll during the last four months, your protection will start from one to three months after you enroll. If you do not enroll in Medicare Part B during your initial enrollment period, you have another chance each year to sign up during a “general enrollment period” from January 1 through March 31. Your coverage begins on July 1 of the year you enroll. However, your monthly premium increases 10 percent for each 12-month period you were eligible for, but did not enroll in, Medicare Part B. In addition to using the SSA website, http://www.socialsecurity.gov, you can call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213.

The Medicare Special Enrollment Period (SEP) is essentially an exemption that allows seniors who meet certain circumstantial events to make Medicare Advantage plan purchases outside of the annual open enrollment period. Qualifying circumstances include: •Seniors with a change in there permanent address •Seniors who enter or leave a nursing home •Seniors who are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, who lose cost sharing assistance provided by Medicaid •Seniors eligible for low-income subsidy •Senior who lost credible Rx coverage •Seniors dis-enrolling from employer sponsored health plan

Any transfer of assets to an Inter Vivos Irrevocable Trust will not automatically create a 60 month period of ineligibility for Medicaid. When a transfer to a trust is made the period of ineligibility will be calculated by taking the dollar value of the asset transferred and dividing it by the average monthly cost of a nursing home as determined by the Department of Social Services in your area. Not all transfers to a trust will automatically create a 60 month period. There can be transfers made to a trust which create periods of ineligibility of less than 36 months. Speak to your local CPA or an elder law attorney for more information on trust transfers and Medicaid.

A gift made pursuant to the Federal Estate and Gift Tax exclusion for gifts of $14,000 per year per person does create a period of ineligibility for Medicaid. You may make a gift of $14,000 or less per year to any person without creating a gift tax but the gift would still create a period of ineligibility for Medicaid which will be determined by utilizing the following formula. The dollar value of the asset transferred and dividing it by the average monthly cost of a nursing home as determined by the Department of Social Services for your area. This is not the actual average monthly cost of a nursing home in your area but the rate as established by the Department of Social Services. The actual cost is probable significantly higher. Speak to your local CPA or elder law attorney for more information on a gift or transfer and Medicaid.

A Defined benefit plan is a pension plan in which the sponsor agrees to make specified dollar payments to qualifying employees.
The pension obligations are effectively the debt obligation of the plan sponsor.

Yes. The IRS lets you make changes from Roth IRAs to regular IRAs and back, more than once. After you re-characterize a Roth IRA to a regular IRA, you can convert it again but not until the following year, or thirty days later, whichever takes longer.

No. You may re-characterize your Roth IRA to a conventional IRA by filing an amended return. You would file IRS Form 1040X with Form 8606. This would enable you to get a refund on the Roth conversion payment amount you already paid with the original 1040 income tax return.

No. You are allowed to re-characterize your Roth IRA to a conventional IRA up until the final due date of the income tax return. This means the due date plus extensions translate from April 15th to potentially Oct 15th.