People often ask “when I go on Medicare is my spouse covered?”
People who are Medicare-eligible at age 65 often find themselves in a situation where they think that they have to continue their current medical plan because their spouse who has not reached age 65 is not yet Medicare-eligible. And that’s just not so.
Once you become Medicare-eligible your spouse has the ability to do several different things. Although they can’t come with you onto a Medicare style plan they can continue the benefits under an employer-sponsored plan through COBRA. Or if you have an individual plan, they can continue that benefit without you. Your Medicare eligibility is a life event for them even if they had an individual plan or a group plan. That life event that you have would allow them to purchase an individual plan in the marketplace even though that they’re not Medicare-eligible yet.