My husband was approved for ss disability in May 2008 with benefits retroactive to Nov 2003. I work full time and he is on my health insurance.
He does not have medicare. Most of the people we talked to said it would probably be better financialy for him to stay on my policy.

His health is getting worse and we are trying to decide whether or not to have medicare in addition to my insurance.
We are confused about the following issues:

When can he sign up for it?
Will there be a penalty or waiting period?
Does he have to be taken off of my insurance in order to get medicare or can he have both?
If he gets medicare can my Employer force us to use medicare as primary and my insurance as secondary?
In most situations do you think medicare is better/worse than bcbs?

I suggest that you read this for yourself. I think the pertinent info is on pages 21-24:

http://www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/10050.pdf

Medicare sends you a card WHEN you are eligible -- you decide then whether or not you want to "accept" Part B coverage.

If a person is eligible for Medicare, most employee health care programs require that it's taken, and Medicare becomes primary for that person. If his claim goes back to 2003, he should be eligible for Medicare now. If you don't take it when it's first offered, then there is a penalty if you decide to take it later.

He will still have Medicare part A whether he opts in for B or not.

They just automatically sent out the card to me.

I cancelled it. I have coverage through BCBS through my husband.....we can use the $110 a month in our pockets.

They said I don't pay a penalty if I later change my mind. I would have to wait until their open enrollment time each year if/when I want to go on Medicare.