What you need to know about your spouse’s Medicare coverage

Article by Lorie Konish, published by CNBC

“A lot of people don’t know that a spouse can be covered for Medicare under their spouse’s work record,” said Medicare expert Katy Votava, president of Goodcare.com, an independent consulting firm that specializes in health care.

If you’re like many Americans, you may be baffled as to whether or not your spouse is eligible for Medicare coverage based on your work record.

In fact, when some pre-retirees were recently quizzed on Medicare, most didn’t know for sure.

The test — posed by MassMutual to 500 Americans ages 60 to 64 — found that most were wrong about their spouse’s eligibility for coverage.

The true or false question said, “If I am not eligible for Medicare, but my spouse is eligible, I can receive Medicare benefits.”

Just 21 percent of respondents accurately answered correctly with “True,” while 79 percent answered incorrectly with “False.” Read more