Toni:
My Medicare begins April 1st and I have received my first bill which is $536 and the premium is due by April 25th.. I do not see this Medicare cost anywhere on the Medicare site or in any information I received when I came into the Toni Says office for my Medicare consultation. Am I being charged the Medicare Part B penalty? I signed up before I turned 65. What is wrong?
I am not starting my Social Security check until I turn 66 which is my full retirement age, so I must pay this myself to Social Security. Is there a way I can pay the Medicare Part B premium monthly instead of the whole amount? Look forward to what your thoughts are?
Fred from Texas
Fred:
Here is a Medicare surprise for you Fred…. You are not being charged EXTRA!! You have been charged for 4 months of Medicare Part B premiums. Since you are not receiving a Social Security check, then all Social Security can do is bill you for your Medicare premiums in a quarterly lump sum.
Most Americans enrolled in Medicare are paying their Medicare premiums monthly from their Social Security check. Social Security will automatically take the Medicare premiums from a person’s Social Security check.
Social Security will send a letter informing the Medicare beneficiary that Social Security is deducting the monthly Medicare Part B premiums from ones Social Security check. Fred this is not your situation.
The average Part B premium for those who income is $85,000 or less as an individual or $170,000 or less as a couple is $134, and yours, Fred, if you divide your premium of $536 by 4 months equals $134 per month.
Medicare has a program that can allow one to pay premiums on a monthly basis by either paying via check, bank draft, debit card or credit cards. The program is called “Medicare Easy Pay”.
An article in Chapter 7 of the 2018 Medicare Survival Guide® Advanced edition, discusses Medicare Easy Pay with a copy of the form with instructions in the “Forms Chapter” on pages 144-146 of the same guide. Or you can visit www.medicare.gov website, which discusses how to set up Medicare Easy Pay and access the form to download to pay monthly.
For those who do not have access to a computer, call 1/800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227) and to request the Medicare Easy Pay form mailed to you or make a copy from Toni’s Medicare Survival Guide® Advanced edition.
If one does not keep up with your Medicare premiums, whether it is Part A, B, C and/or D, then they can lose their benefits and may be charged a penalty when they re-enroll.(When one does not have 40 working quarters to qualify for Medicare, then they may have to pay a premium for Part A.)
It may take about 6-8 weeks to have the Medicare Easy Pay form processed and you should make sure that you keep up with your monthly premiums being paid so that your Medicare Parts A, B, C and/or D are kept on a current basis.
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