I am 51, my spouse is 61. For the base model I am setting up, I am assuming we will both retire at 67.
First issue, setting both our Medicare ages to "R" results in Periods 1,4,5. This seems like a bug, Period 4 will never occur, "Retired, one on Medicare". This period is show to span from 2030 to 2040 (my spouse's retirement to my retirement). This is perhaps understandable because Pralana appears to not contain the phase "one working, one on Medicare". I'm not sure why this permutation was omitted entirely, but an error would be nice, or a fallthrough to Period 2, which at least reflects an assumption that the working spouse is using employer insurance.
I realize can enter the cost of the employer healthcare for this incorrect period 4, but I need to disable auto calculation of Medicare premiums (and IRMAA) as suggested by this thread to avoid paying for healthcare twice. Since I want the automatic calculations for later periods, this is undesirable.
Second issue, when I try to correct the issue and set my spouse's medicare age to 77 I get periods 1,2,4,5. This is better, as period 2 reflects only one working, but period 4 still is still incorrectly shown for the months of 2040 between my spouse's 77's birthday and my retirement date. Again, this period would not exist.
To workaround I've realized I need to set my spouse's Medicare date to my retirement date manually. Ideally this would be a case where one person's field could reference the other persons value for "R".
Sorry, realized I filed this in the wrong section. To be clear, this is a question/bug about Pralana Online. Mods please move there if possible.
@axel In reviewing this, I see that the text associated with Period 4 on the Healthcare expenses page doesn't actually align with the implementation, and needs to be corrected. Period 4 is implemented as "Only one of you is eligible for Medicare". Period 2 is: "Only one of you is working but neither is eligible for Medicare". So, in your case, Period 4 actually does occur and you should be able to specify that the tool is to automatically calculate the Medicare premiums. It will do so for the eligible person but you'll need to enter the non-Medicare premiums manually.
I looked at this a bit further and did some testing using January 1 birthdates and setting your spouse's retirement date to 77. With these dates, period 2 (one working) does appear but period 4 does not. Period 2 is then a period where your spouse is retired but not on Medicare and, therefore, still on your employer's insurance or ACA with the rest of the family. If I change the spouse's birthday a bit, then period 4 does appear for a brief period and is correct (the labeling is still incorrect but implementation is only one eligible for Medicare).
Stuart
@smatthews51 Thanks for taking a look. I agree that relabeling Period 4 could be helpful, though I see why it is labeled like that now to logically follow Period 3 "Retired, not yet on Medicare" which I interpret to mean "both retired" (and the manual seems to confirm that interpretation).
But I still think there is an issue with the intersection of the periods depending on retirement dates. If my retirement date is after my spouse's Medicare age but before my Medicare age, then Period 4, even with your relabeling, would seem to need to be broken into two periods? For example:
- my birth as 05/01/1973, spouse 04/01/1963,
- both Medicare to 65,
- my retire 05/01/2030 (age 57), spouse retire 04/01/2028 (65, same as medicare)
This yields (in current labeling):
Period 1: Both working, 01/01/2025 - 02/29/2028
Period 4: Retired, one on Medicare 03/01/28 - 03/31/38
Period 5: Both on Medicare 04/01/38 - 05/01/63
But in this scenario I believe Period 4 is really two periods, one that runs from 03/01/28 to 04/30/2030 (one working, one on Medicare) and another from 05/01/2030 to 03/31/38 (one retired one on Medicare).
@axel OK, I'm convinced; we do indeed have a missing period and I'll add that on our bug list. In the meantime, I think you can generally work around this by changing your spouse's Medicare start = your retirement and that will cause Period 2 to appear, in which you can manually specify healthcare costs unique to that period (still working for you and on Medicare for spouse). Thanks for taking the time to describe this in detail!
Stuart
@smatthews51 Thanks for confirming, I agree that seems like a workaround.
I am confused as well handling healthcare costs. In my situation, I am retired and using my wife's health benefits from work for the next 11 years. I am using part A medicare. Both my wife and I will be on complete medicare in 11 years. Pralana is giving Periods 2, 4 and 5 as my options.
Question 1 - Do I use Period 2 for both of us until she retires and then use Period 5 after she retires?
Question 2 - Since my life expectancy is 16 years before my wife's, I will not be using Period 5 completely since it portrays both our expenses through her death. What is a close workaround to eliminate 16 years of expenses from Period 5?
Am I looking at this incorrectly?
@patton525 It would probably be helpful for me to have your export file, but I'll try this without it. I'm assuming your wife will go directly from her working years (period 2) to period 5. So, that would be a YES to question 1. BUT, you said Pralana is showing that period 4 exists, so you'll need to fill in something there to prevent a period with no costs. Maybe just replicate period 2 expenses. Regarding the modeling of expenses in period 5 in which you anticipate dying well ahead of your wife, I think yoou can use the control at the bottom of the page where you can specify the percentage of reduction after the death of a spouse (you in this case).
Stuart
@smatthews51 Access granted via system input. Let me know if that did not work.
@patton525 OK, either Charlie or I will take a look asap and get back to you. Thanks!
Stuart
