SSDI Medicare and Returning to Work

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on

It seems most disability cases are more or less permanent so I haven't been able to find much on exactly what happens when you return to work.

I was fortunate enough to be able to return to work after nearly 24 months of being disabled. I still have memory issues but it has been continuing to get better as more time goes by.

So I finally get the doctor's ok to go back to work and the employer was satisfied with it. I now know about the TWP (trial work period) where I continue to get SSDI benefits for 9 months after returning to work.

Yesterday, I get the "Welcome to Medicare!" package in the mail, complete with Medicare card and I am confused. I am automatically enrolled in Parts A and B. Investigation shows that you get automatically enrolled on the 25th month of being on SSDI.

My question is: now that I am back to work what are the ramifications of keeping or declining the Medicare at this time. I am 50 and covered by employer's insurance. If I decline the Part A and Part B at this time will I be able to get it again when I turn 65+ without any penalties? Should I keep the "free" Part A and turn down the Part B at this time? I fall into an abnormal crack in this system and don't want to make any mistakes that will either cause me to not have this coverage available in the future or have to pay a penalty for getting this coverage because it had been offered to me earlier.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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