jjerickson
Confused about dryer sheets
I was forced to retire in February 2023. My wife was 65 and at the time on my company healthcare plan. I enrolled her to Medicare on 2/1/23 as a result of my company healthcare going away. Since retiring was a life changing event, I submitted form SSA-44 to have her IRMAA redetermined for 2023. I did the same for 2024. In both instances the redetermination was approved and IRMAA removed for 2023 and 2024.
Fast forward to the end of 2023, I received a letter from the SSA stating that I owe them IRMAA for 2023 based on my 2021 income. I am choosing not to appeal this decision because ultimately my 2023 income will be in the same IRMAA range as 2021 so I will just pay it.
However, my 2024 income will be drastically less then 2022 and I expect a letter from the SSA at the end of 2024 again stating that I owe them IRMAA for 2024 based on my pre-retirement 2022 income. I plan on appealing that because of my forced retirement and income change in 2024. But during a recent visit to the local SSA office they said that IRMAA will be charged to you because it is always based on your income 2 years back even though you had a life changing event and you weren't on Medicare in 2021 or 2022. To me that did not make any sense because why have an SSA-44 redetermination process if it is always going to look two years back. I had thought that I would appeal claiming that my 2024 income was far less and that they would approve my appeal and SSA would wait till my 2024 taxes are filed to see what I really did make. If I did make more, then I would get a notice saying I owe the IRMAA. If not, then everything would be fine.
Are my assumptions correct and am I going about the process correctly?
Fast forward to the end of 2023, I received a letter from the SSA stating that I owe them IRMAA for 2023 based on my 2021 income. I am choosing not to appeal this decision because ultimately my 2023 income will be in the same IRMAA range as 2021 so I will just pay it.
However, my 2024 income will be drastically less then 2022 and I expect a letter from the SSA at the end of 2024 again stating that I owe them IRMAA for 2024 based on my pre-retirement 2022 income. I plan on appealing that because of my forced retirement and income change in 2024. But during a recent visit to the local SSA office they said that IRMAA will be charged to you because it is always based on your income 2 years back even though you had a life changing event and you weren't on Medicare in 2021 or 2022. To me that did not make any sense because why have an SSA-44 redetermination process if it is always going to look two years back. I had thought that I would appeal claiming that my 2024 income was far less and that they would approve my appeal and SSA would wait till my 2024 taxes are filed to see what I really did make. If I did make more, then I would get a notice saying I owe the IRMAA. If not, then everything would be fine.
Are my assumptions correct and am I going about the process correctly?
