Best way to pay Medicare with no SS yet

[bizlady]

My Medicare application has been filed, but I will not be taking SS until age 70.

I am aware that I can get billed and send a check or setup auto withdrawal.

My questions is for those in similar situation, what have you found to be the easiest to get this paid? Please explain if they bill you first, or I just set it up to auto pay...I am concerned about how to get this handled.

 

[Sarah S]

I paid the original bill online for three months and then set up autopay which is monthly. You can’t use a credit card for autopay but you can if you pay as you go. I was going to do that and pay every three months but decided the convenience of autopay outweighed other factors like credit card bonus points. Ymmv

 

[pb4uski]

+1 they withdraw it monthly from our checking account.

 

[Mark1]

I paid the original bill online for three months and then set up autopay which is monthly. You can’t use a credit card for autopay but you can if you pay as you go. I was going to do that and pay every three month but decided the convenience of autopay outweighed other factors like credit card bonus points. Ymmv

DW turned 65 in August and this is exactly what we did. Once the first check cleared and I knew they showed the payment, we signed up for autopay. First autopay won't be until Nov, but they did hit the checking account in August with a $0.00 debit right after we signed up for autopay.

 

[audreyh1]

DH uses billpay from his HSA account. We have to manually enter the scheduled payments, but it works well even if occasionally Medicare takes a couple of weeks to deposit the check. This simplifies our tax record keeping.

We also schedule a year’s worth of payments in advance.

 

[RetireBy90]

I’m in month 3 of Medicare and have been paying with a push from my bank. The last bill was first one that was correct so I’m a bit shy of setting up autopay, but when/if I do it will be with my bank’s autopay.

First bill was for 2 months the next 2 were for 1 month, just so you don’t get so confused like I did

 

[ERD50]

When people say "autopay", do they mean through the Medicare site, or through their bank?

I prefer to use my bank's (CU actually) autopay (just so most of it is controlled from one place, one interface), but... it's kind of awkward - if I have this right, the Medicare 3 month billing cycle is based on the month you started (plus/minus one month?), but the rate increase starts in January?

So I end up having to adjust the amount for two of the four quarters, due to the overlap between my billing cycle and January. For example, if my bill is for Aug-Oct, then Nov-Jan, then Feb-Apr, and May-July, my Aug-Oct, bill for 2020 is $X, my Nov-Jan is a blend of 2020 and 2021, so $Y, then my Feb-Apr and May-July bills are fully the 2021 rate, so $Z.

Not a big issue, but lessens the convenience of auto-pay. Maybe I should just pay monthly (effectively 2 months paid in advance), then only one change per year? Any other ideas?

-ERD50

 

[Dash man]

We pay DW’s Medicare by autopay. We paid the first quarterly payment and they started autopay after that.

 

[ERD50]

...

First bill was for 2 months the next 2 were for 1 month, just so you don’t get so confused like I did

Right, this is confusing - I really had to watch it to keep it straight. Plus the offset between billing and the annual increase that I just posted.

Plus, the MC website is confusing to me. It shows bills, and history, but it isn't clear (to me) which payments were applied to which bills.

-ERD50

 

[pb4uski]

When people say "autopay", do they mean through the Medicare site, or through their bank?

I prefer to use my bank's (CU actually) autopay (just so most of it is controlled from one place, one interface), but... it's kind of awkward - if I have this right, the Medicare 3 month billing cycle is based on the month you started (plus/minus one month?), but the rate increase starts in January?

So I end up having to adjust the amount for two of the four quarters, due to the overlap between my billing cycle and January. For example, if my bill is for Aug-Oct, then Nov-Jan, then Feb-Apr, and May-July, my Aug-Oct, bill for 2020 is $X, my Nov-Jan is a blend of 2020 and 2021, so $Y, then my Feb-Apr and May-July bills are fully the 2021 rate, so $Z.

Not a big issue, but lessens the convenience of auto-pay. Maybe I should just pay monthly (effectively 2 months paid in advance), then only one change per year? Any other ideas?

-ERD50

I use the Medicare autopay. It has been flawless so far. Like you, I generally prefer to do a push from my bank than have the vendor do a pull from my bank, but I decided to put the onus on them in case something gets messed up then it will be their problem.

 

[Sarah S]

When people say "autopay", do they mean through the Medicare site, or through their bank?
-ERD50

Sorry I was not clear. When I signed up for medicare I believe I selected pay three months at a time. When I got the bill I went to the medicare website and paid that 3 month bill using a credit card. I later went back ( considerably before the next bill was due to arrive) and chose to have medicare pull from my account each month. So far there has been no difficulty or confusion and each month they send a “bill” that has the this is not a bill you are signed up for autopay at the top. I was used to having my aca premiums paid like that. The only difference is this is a fraction of the amount I paid aca

 

[CardsFan]

I’m in month 3 of Medicare and have been paying with a push from my bank. The last bill was first one that was correct so I’m a bit shy of setting up autopay, but when/if I do it will be with my bank’s autopay.

First bill was for 2 months the next 2 were for 1 month, just so you don’t get so confused like I did

Bold by me.

This what I do. I get a bill every 3 months, and pay from my B&M bank online. Since the 3 month cycle is aligned with your start date and not January to January, every year there will be a bill that is different because the price changed in January, so push autopay will be short once a year.

 

[ERD50]

I use the Medicare autopay. It has been flawless so far. Like you, I generally prefer to do a push from my bank than have the vendor do a pull from my bank, but I decided to put the onus on them in case something gets messed up then it will be their problem.

Yes, I think I'll just change to having the Medicare site pull, does seem to outweigh the advantage of doing most from my CU. After finally getting DW's set up!

Bold by me.

This what I do. I get a bill every 3 months, and pay from my B&M bank online. Since the 3 month cycle is aligned with your start date and not January to January, every year there will be a bill that is different because the price changed in January, so push autopay will be short once a year.

Twice a year - see my post #7 (the bill with Jan in the mix is one increase, then the next full new year bill is the second increase) .

-ERD50

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I set up a "Push" Autopay with my credit union for 12 consecutive payments. I am totally against "pull" AutoPay setups to a bank. OK to a CC but one cannot do that with Medicare.

I have only ever had a "pull" autopay once when I was young and naïve and had one hell of a time stopping it. All "Push" since then.

CCs are an exception as you can contest payments any time if a company tries any shenanigans.

 

[CardsFan]

Twice a year - see my post #7 (the bill with Jan in the mix is one increase, then the next full new year bill is the second increase) .

-ERD50

You are right, which is the reason I push pay every 3 months and not push autopay.

Anyway, I plan to take SS next year a little after FRA, so the problem goes away then.

Please no comments on when to take SS, we always have at least a dozen threads addressing that one

 

[bizlady]

All this is helpful. Thanks all.

So do I wait until I get a bill before making the first payment? When should I expect to see the bill?

 

[walkinwood]

Is it possible to set it up so medicare "pulls" from an HSA account?

 

[Sarah S]

So do I wait until I get a bill before making the first payment? When should I expect to see the bill?

I see I paid my first premium on the 11 th on the month before Medicare started so I think I got the bill that day. I got my non bill from medicare yesterday for October so I think around that time of the month is when the bills arrive
The due date is the 25th though

 

[RetireBy90]

All this is helpful. Thanks all.

So do I wait until I get a bill before making the first payment? When should I expect to see the bill?

I would wait for the bill, and expect a bit of back and forth on amounts for a couple months or billing cycles (I'm on monthly for budgeting) as I mentioned above.

I started Medicare 1 June this year and received first bill late April for 3 moths, then 27 July for Sept and 27 Aug for October. Actually they were dated on 27th, so seems you should expect the bills about the same time each month or quarter.

I would suggest don't read too much into detail of the initial bills. My 2nd bill said entire amount due was for one month when it included $220 for one month and $275 for IRMAA not billed for first 3 month on first bill.

Two times I was able to get a rep on the phone to explain the bill with a bit of a wait. Explanation was good although answer wasn't what I wanted
My advice is just be a bit patient and it gets sorted out ok. Also remember there is part B IRMAA and separate part D IRMAA. Finally I kept all correspondence and notes from phone calls.

 

[youbet]

I use the Medicare autopay. It has been flawless so far. Like you, I generally prefer to do a push from my bank than have the vendor do a pull from my bank, but I decided to put the onus on them in case something gets messed up then it will be their problem.

You must have dealt with different folks at SS than we have. We've learned "it's" NEVER their problem!

 

[youbet]

DW's SS is less than her Part B premium so we will be dealing with this for life. We get 13 bills a year. They send a monthly bill for the Part B deficiency (after they take her entire SS monthly payment) and a whopper (several kilobux) IRRMA bill once a year.

We wait until the bills arrive via snail mail and then manually do a push payment from our checking account. This takes about five minutes a month which we'd like to avoid but we're still nervous about autopay since there were so many irregularities in the beginning.

 

[blueskyk]

I’m on the MC autopay and all works well. The silly part is they still send a monthly “bill” in the mail titled “Medicare Premium Bill” on the left side of the page and “This Is Not A Bill” on the right side.

I don’t get this added mailing/administration expense when they must also know I am on autopay since money leaves my account each month.

 

[stephenson]

We pay by credit card for the points!

Gonna miss this when finally take SS.

 

[swakyaby]

So do I wait until I get a bill before making the first payment? When should I expect to see the bill?

DH signed up for Medicare this July at the earliest enrollment opportunity, then waited nearly 2 1/2 months for the first Medicare bill to arrive. I became concerned during this time and called Medicare inquiring about the bill. They reassured me it would come eventually, and even if payment arrived late, we would receive a warning of payment overdue before coverage ends. So the bill eventually arrived 7 days before it was due.

I decided to use our HSA debit account to pay the 3 month premium. Medicare would not allow autopay when using credit or debit accounts because they require a signature for such accounts each time a payment is made. So I return the Medicare bill every 3 months with HSA account information and my signature. Fortunately, I’ll only need to do this until DH reaches full SS age of 66 years 4 month when he begins withdrawing his SS.

 

[fosterscik]

DH signed up for Medicare this July at the earliest enrollment opportunity, then waited nearly 2 1/2 months for the first Medicare bill to arrive. I became concerned during this time and called Medicare inquiring about the bill. They reassured me it would come eventually, and even if payment arrived late, we would receive a warning of payment overdue before coverage ends. So the bill eventually arrived 7 days before it was due.

I decided to use our HSA debit account to pay the 3 month premium. Medicare would not allow autopay when using credit or debit accounts because they require a signature for such accounts each time a payment is made. So I return the Medicare bill every 3 months with HSA account information and my signature. Fortunately, I’ll only need to do this until DH reaches full SS age of 66 years 4 month when he begins withdrawing his SS.

I'm not quite there yet (still a year to go), but why not pay automatically from checking or savings account and then reimburse yourself once per year from your HSA? That's what I'm planning to do as I won't claim ss until 70. Is this a valid (and easier) strategy?