Medicare

I think that so far I have overpaid my 2019 Medicare Premiums by approximately $ 1400. I was confused because last year my payments went up due to IRMAA.
I have not been receiving bills and cannot access concrete payment information for my account online.
What should I do?

Hi,

I am 70 and am self-employed and am drawing social security benefits from my account. My wife was born in 1951 and is still working (at a community college employer which has over 20 employees). She plans to retire in January 2020 at which point she will switch to a medical plan through the educational retirement board. She has been working continuously since she was in high school. She recently learned that she could draw a benefit equal to 1/2 of my benefit.

I will not be eligible for free Medicare A because I only have 36 Medicare credits. You say I can qualify on my husbands record. He retired from gov job so no social security but he does have Medicare A (free) and Medicare B. Can I still use his record?

Hi,

Can a man who filed for divorce be forced by Medicare to provide health insurance for his wife on social security disability?

Hi,

I'm not sure if I understand your question. A person can't be forced to provide Medicare for an ex-spouse, but they also can't prevent an ex-spouse from qualifying for Medicare if the ex-spouse meets the requirements.

I reached 65 but plan to work a few more years. I have a company health insurance. I want to keep paying into my HSA can I do this if I sign up for medicare and suspend it?

Hi,

No, and you can't voluntarily suspend Medicare coverage anyway. However, as long as you or your spouse is an active employee and you're enrolled in an employer group health plan that covers at least 20 employees, you could instead delay enrolling in Medicare without penalty for as long as your work and coverage continues.

Best, Jerry

Larry,

I’m in what is likely to be an increasing category of folks. People who start their Medicare coverage long before they start their Social Security. Under this scenario I have been paying my Medicare premiums directly every three months.

I have not seen any discussion anywhere of my pending problem which, as I indicated, must be occurring more often now.

I, and my wife, started Medicare 'only' before my recently filed benefits for my wife and myself this May. I filed for a restricted application for spousal benefits adjunct to my wife's retirement benefits. When we paid for our Medicare our bills were for the 'future' month; now, starting this May, they have started the deductions this month. How do we get our 2 months of advanced payments back from CMS??

Hi,

I was receiving social security benefits, but then graduated from nursing school at 63, December 2017. I called social security, and voluntarily suspended my benefits unlike I've read you can do. I explained how much I was making and they acted like I was going to have to pay back what I collected in 2018. I never heard back. I did apply for withdrawing my benefits but couldn't afford to pay back the benefits I had received. I plan to work until at least 70-73 years old. I will be eligible for Medicare this year but receive medical benefits through my job.

I plan on taking survivor SS at age 60 and then go on Medicare at age 65. At age 70 I plan on taking my SS. My SS will be substantially higher than the survivor, about 2- 3x's in future dollars. My question is, when I switch over will the premiums for Medicare rise substantially as well? I don't think the Hold Harmless law will apply since my SS will be higher so any Medicare premium increase will not cause my SS to decrease, at least for the first year. I am worried that the premium will jump significantly and then stay there forever and change with COLA's.

In a previous article you published you state that with file and suspend strategy if you pay for Medicare B premium directly from SS your benefit when you ask for it in the future will be no larger than when you suspended its receipt. As you state this is a really nasty Gotcha.

My question is whether this is also true for a Restricted application?

If so can this be reset if one started this way and starts paying for Medicare B independently via check?

Thank you

Hi,