I am starting medicare next January. I figure it is time to use my HSA funds for Part B.
I have HSA account in Fidelity. Can I set up auto pay in Medicare.gov to withdraw premium out of Fidelity account? Or the only way to do it is that I pay from my checking, and ask Fidelity to reimburse me?
To pay directly from your Fidelity HSA account, you can set up BillPay in your Fidelity HSA account and/or use the Fidelity HSA debit card to pay via Medicare.gov. We do this.
DH started Medicare last May.
We ordered the Fidelity HSA debit card on the account just in case we might need it.
First couple of times we used the HSA debit card to pay via Medicare.gov because of timing and uncertainty over schedule and exact bill amounts.
Then when it came to a regular amount and schedule/deadlines, we used the Medicare instructions to set up bill payment from the HSA account. The first time we paid a month in advance because we didn't know how quickly the payment would be credited. We found that generally the payment was credited within a couple of weeks of receipt. Often sooner.
https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/ways-to-pay-part-a-part-b-premiums/online-bill-payment
Nice thing the HSA account shows when the check was withdrawn, and generally Medicare credits your account the next day. Fidelity has to mail CMS MEDICARE a physical check, so they make you schedule at least 3 days in advance. Then Medicare takes some time to process it - the first time took almost 2 weeks, faster thereafter.
Once we felt we understood the timing, we went ahead and scheduled the payments for the rest of the year. Now we have to wait until December to find out what the 2021 amounts are going to be.
Another option is Medicare Easy Pay which drafts from an account, but we weren't comfortable with using this approach to directly withdraw from the HSA account because we can't add funds to the HSA account anymore, and timing could get tricky when the account gets low and we need to switch methods. Plus people have reported having an extra payment withdrawn when starting SS, and then reimbursed later to the account. Well, that doesn't work too good with an HSA account.
https://www.medicare.gov/your-medicare-costs/ways-to-pay-part-a-part-b-premiums/medicare-easy-pay