Work and Medicare Part B enrollment involves rules
Use this five-letter word to understand yourself and read people
Q: I am approaching 65 and have to make some decisions regarding enrolling in Medicare. I will be working after age 65. My employer is willing to continue some health-care coverage after 65. My employer has fewer than 20 employees. Do I have to enroll in Medicare Part B?
A: If your employer has fewer than 20 employees, then it is mandatory for employees to sign up for Medicare Part B (medical insurance) when they reach age 65 to avoid penalties. Some employers with fewer than 20 employees do offer health benefits to employees older than 65, and some partly subsidize Part B premiums for employees who continue to work. These employees are required to enroll in Part B during the initial enrollment period (during the seven-month period that straddles the month they turn 65).
Those who fail to enroll during this period may be penalized when they do sign up for Part B. Monthly Part B premiums may increase up to 10% for each full 12 months in the period that employees could have enrolled in Part B but did not.
Only if an employer has 20 or more employees can an employee covered by employer health insurance postpone signing up for Part B at age 65 without penalty. In that situation, the employee is eligible to enroll in Part B, without penalty, during a special enrollment period during the eight-month period that begins the month after the employment ends or the coverage ends, whichever happens first.
Unfortunately, the “Medicare and You” handbook does not clearly indicate that it is mandatory for individuals who are covered by health insurance with companies employing fewer than 20 employees must sign up for Part B to avoid penalties. Employers should make this clear to employees, but unfortunately some employees are not informed properly, and some face penalties as a result when they fail to enroll in Part B initially.
Q: I am approaching 65 and plan to continue working after 65. My employer group health insurance will continue. I understand that I can postpone signing up for Part B (health insurance) until I retire. I understand I can obtain Part A (hospital insurance) without cost. However, I do contribute to a health savings account (HSA) and have been told that if I enroll in any part of Medicare, I can no longer contribute to my HSA. Is that true?
A: Yes, it’s true. Once you enroll in any part of Medicare, you can no longer make new contributions to an HSA.
If you do, you will face penalties. However, you are not required to withdraw all the balances you have in the account. You can withdraw funds from your account tax-free without penalty as long as the withdrawals are used for qualified health expenses.
Q: I understand that if an individual is eligible for or enrolled in an employer-subsidized healthcare plan, then the employee is not eligible for the health-care deduction associated with selfemployed income. Is that correct? A: Unfortunately, yes. If you are eligible for or enrolled in an employer-subsidized health-care plan, you are not allowed to take the health-care deduction related to your self-employed income.
This is fascinating. That’s what I thought to myself as I viewed the results of my personality assessment. It was the first personality test I had ever taken, and it was pretty eye-opening. For example, I had always thought I was an extrovert, as I was relatively good in social situations and felt reasonably comfortable around others. But the results of the assessment showed I actually leaned toward introversion, meaning I got energy from being alone and having time to think.
It was true. I enjoyed being around my friends, but I always found I needed time to recharge afterward. And I enjoyed going to a movie theater or out to eat by myself, things my wife says she couldn’t imagine doing herself.
This was all part of my personal journey to building self-awareness, the ability to identify and understand emotions and how they affect you. I then found that the better I understood myself, the better I could read and understand others, too.
But you don’t have to take a personality test to start building self- and social awareness. In time, I discovered a simple five-letter acronym that has been immensely helpful in getting to know myself and others: OCEAN.
OCEAN is the acronym used to remember the five traits that make up the five-factor model of personality, commonly known as the Big Five, which is supported by many psychologists and researchers.
But what does the acronym OCEAN stand for? How does it help you to better understand yourself and others? And how can you use it in your work and personal life?
Let’s discuss.
Each letter of the acronym stands for a trait in the five-factor model of personality. Here are the five traits and a simple explanation of each one.
Openness: How open you are to new experiences and trying new things.
Conscientiousness: How structured, organized and committed you are to your work. Extraversion: How you get your energy, whether from being alone (introverted) or being with others (extroverted). Agreeableness: How you deal with others, whether you strive for harmony or tend to voice your opinions even if different from others.
Neuroticism: How strongly you tend to negative emotions.
Each of these traits exists on a spectrum, meaning you can lean toward one end or the other, or anywhere in between. And no matter where you land on the spectrum of each trait, you’ll have strengths and weaknesses.
For example: Those who score higher on Openness are often creative but risky. Low scorers are more likely to play it safe but may lack the knack for innovation.
High Conscientiousness scorers are usually very dependable, but their high standards may be challenging for others to keep up with. Low scorers may be more flexible and fun to work with, but they may also be less productive.
High Extraversion scorers (extroverts) may be the life of the party, but they struggle when alone. Low scorers (introverts) thrive when they have time to think, but they need space between social engagements.
Those scoring high on Agreeableness may be great at managing conflict, but they can also tend toward passive aggression. Low scorers are great at keeping it real and saying what needs to be said, but some hurt others in the process.
And high Neuroticism scorers may be good at planning and managing risk, because they often anticipate what may go wrong; however, they may also be emotionally unstable. Low scorers may be in a better mood more often, but they can also be idealistic — or even unrealistic.
Of course, this is all overly simplified — and it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Personality is extremely complex, and the traits aren’t completely independent of each other; they mix and merge and work together (or against each other) to make up the uniqueness of you.
But taking the time to learn and understand the five traits is useful for two reasons.
First, it can help you identify strengths and weaknesses in yourself and others, depending on where you sit on the spectrum of each trait. As you can see in the examples above, leaning toward one end of a trait can prove to be a strength in some situations and a weakness in others.
Second, it’s helpful to know that each of us has needs connected to our traits. When those needs aren’t met, we tend to act differently than we would under normal circumstances because we’re stressed.
For example, if you lean toward low extraversion (i.e., you self-identify as an introvert like me), you may struggle when you’re around others for too long without a break to recharge. This may cause you to withdraw from conversation by burying yourself in your phone, for example. Or you may even withdraw physically, going to another room to escape the crowd.
A better understanding of the Big Five traits is especially useful for business owners or leaders managing a team. As you identify strengths and weaknesses in yourself and your team members, you can then take steps to leverage the strengths and mitigate the weaknesses.
At the same time, as you better understand the Big Five, you’ll gradually increase your ability to identify “usual behavior” and “stress behavior” in yourself and others. That can help you take steps to avoid situations that cause stress when practical, or to develop a plan to deal with that stress when necessary.
For example, if you have multiple introverts on your team, you may want to limit how many meetings you invite them to, or make sure to provide enough buffer time between meetings so they have time to recharge. Or you may consider how conscientious various team members are and how that’s going to affect their ability to work together.
So if you’re interested in better understanding yourself and others, along with the emotional reasons we think, speak and act the way we do, remember that simple five-letter word and all it stands for.
That understanding can help you better understand yourself, better understand the people you work with, and manage those relationships more effectively.
And that’s what we call emotionally intelligent.