medicare and employer insurance after transplant

[sullidog]

After my transplant since I'm not on dialysis anymore I noticed medicare switched back to secondary and my employers insurance went back to primary again. Is this common? Any idea why this happened? I thought medicare would at least be primary until I was no longer elgible for it. I also get it do to my blindness so maybe that's it?

[JaeCie]

THis is common. You get forced Medicare for I believe it's 18 or 24 months post-transplant and then back to primary insurance - which is a good thing since you pay for it anyway. If you go back on dialysis - certainly hope you don't - then the old Medicare stuff kicks in again.

[smcd23]

How long has it been post transplant?

When you are on Medicare and also have employer insurance through current employment, Medicare is typically secondary. HOWEVER when you have Medicare for ESRD this is only true for the first 30 months. Then after 30 months,  Medicare switches to primary and the employer insurance is secondary. Things would continue like this so long as you are on Medicare for ESRD. So for example, my husband became eligible in 2/2010. Medicare was secondary for 30 months, and now that period is over, so Medicare is primary and my insurance is secondary.

You continue to get Medicare under the ESRD rules for 36 months post transplant. If you are past that point, but still qualify for Medicare based on disability or age, it would revert to the regular Medicare rules, which is Medicare is secondary to employer health insurance through current work.