I am a us citizen living in costa rica I have ssdi and have medicare I am 56 years old gave up my rights to medicare for a lump sum in a lawsuit . I still have medicare and would like to know if I can stop it and get the money that is still being taken out to pay for it?

Hi,

I've never heard of 'giving up rights to Medicare', so I have no idea what you mean by that. In any case, though, except for rare exceptions Medicare won't pay for medical services performed outside of the U.S. You can drop Part B (outpatient coverage) of Medicare and stop paying the associated premiums by completing and submitting a form CMS-1763 (https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/CMS-Forms/CMS-Forms/Downloads/CMS1763.pdf) to Social Security. You can't drop Part A (inpatient hospital coverage) of Medicare, but there is no premium for that coverage anyway.

Before dropping your Part B coverage, you need to be aware that if you return to the U.S. and want to re-enroll in Part B you will likely only be able to do so during an annual general enrollment period. And, you'll likely have to pay a premium surcharge of 10% for each 12 month period that you could have had coverage but chose not to take it.

Best, Jerry