I just got IMRAA'd

Less than 5% of people on Medicare are subject to IRMAAs. So we are a select group!

But you all already knew that!

Medicare Premiums: Rules For Higher-Income Beneficiaries https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10536.pdf

Part B helps pay for your doctors’ services and outpatient care. It also covers other medical services, such as physical and occupational therapy, and some home health care. For most beneficiaries, the government pays a substantial portion — about 75 percent — of the Part B premium, and the beneficiary pays the remaining 25 percent.

If you’re a higher-income beneficiary, you’ll pay a larger percentage of the total cost of Part B based on the income you report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). You’ll pay monthly Part B premiums equal to 35, 50, 65, 80, or 85 percent of the total cost, depending on what you report to the IRS.
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audreyh1 said:
. And we get to pay it for many years without getting any SS to cover it at first.
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And some lucky folks, like my DW, never get enough SS to cover it. Her small SS income falls far short of covering her Part B premium and IRRMA charges. She receives a bill from the nice SS folks each month for the amount her monthly SS falls short of covering the Part B premium and a rather large bill (several kilobux) due each autumn to cover the annual IRRMA. :facepalm:

We expected some of this cash outflow and built that into our FIRE planning but it has turned out to be significantly more than we planned for. Fortunately we were using the belt and suspenders approach and have been able to absorb the hit without too much angst.
 
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Ouch!

So they bill her separately for the IRMAA, and it’s an annual bill?

From what I read folks subject to IRMAA are billed monthly if they aren’t yet receiving Medicare.
 
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audreyh1 said:
From what I read folks subject to IRMAA are billed monthly if they aren’t yet receiving Medicare.
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I assume you meant Social Security not Medicare. Anyway a monthly bill would be surprising since the Medicare Part B bill I get is quarterly paid in advance and I assume the IRMAA payments would be folded into that.
 
From the text of the IMRAA letter I got:
Part B premium -202.40
of which
144.60 standard premium
57.80 IRMAA
Part D premium 29.00
Plus 12.20 IMRAA


For me, tit means $24 less than I received in 2019 per month.
 
Confirmed - no IRMAA premium increase coming in 2020. But WEP... the WEP, she lingers.
 
Ian S said:
I assume you meant Social Security not Medicare. Anyway a monthly bill would be surprising since the Medicare Part B bill I get is quarterly paid in advance and I assume the IRMAA payments would be folded into that.
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Yes, right sorry - I meant those not yet receiving SS.
 
audreyh1 said:
Ouch!

So they bill her separately for the IRMAA, and it’s an annual bill?

From what I read folks subject to IRMAA are billed monthly if they aren’t yet receiving Medicare.
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I misspoke in my earlier post. DW explained it to me (yet again). There is a Part B IRMAA and a Part D IRMAA.

1. She gets a bill monthly for her Part D IRMAA.

2. She gets an annual bill for an amount which equals:

(12 X monthly Part B premium + 12 X monthly Part B IRMAA) - (12 X monthly SS benefit).

Since her SS is very little, the annual bill amounts to several kilobux.

We both just got our annual SS benefit letters yesterday. Mine tells me how much my monthly SS will be after subtracting Part B premium, Part B IRMAA and Part D IRMAA. Hers only tells her her Part B premium, Part B IRMAA and Part D IRMAA amounts because her monthly SS amount winds up being a negative number which they don't specify. So, we know what the 2020 monthly Part D IRMAA bill will be but have to wait to know how much the humongous annual bill will be. It arrives in the spring and is due in the autumn if I recall correctly.

It's always a pathetic joke dealing with SS when something goes wrong with the billing. NooooBody seems to have a clue. I've listened to DW tell, retell and retell again the situation as her call is transferred around from person to person. What they are good at is sending computer generated letters threatening to cut off her Medicare if payment is not received. But when you don't get a bill, or the hand calculated bill has some silly number on it, it's close to impossible to get someone to talk to you, let alone work on it.

Last years annual bill had an extra $400+ added to it as a separate line item with no explanation. DW tried a number of times to get an answer via telephone to no avail. She wrote a detailed, polite letter but never received a reply. In the end, we sent in a check for the full amount. It just wasn't worth it to see DW so stressed and in tears after hours and hours of getting the runaround.
 
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audreyh1 said:
Sounds like a nightmare!
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Well, it is what it is. In our 7th year of this BS, we've finally become a bit more complacent about all the bureaucratic ignorance within the system.

Generally, we're satisfied with the coverage my Medicare + Supplement gives me and the coverage that DW's Medicare Advantage plan gives her. But it's pricey (compared to our original expectations) and in DW's case, a pita to deal with paying the premiums.
 
youbet said:
I misspoke in my earlier post. DW explained it to me (yet again). There is a Part B IRMAA and a Part D IRMAA.

1. She gets a bill monthly for her Part D IRMAA.

2. She gets an annual bill for an amount which equals:

(12 X monthly Part B premium + 12 X monthly Part B IRMAA) - (12 X monthly SS benefit).

Since her SS is very little, the annual bill amounts to several kilobux.

We both just got our annual SS benefit letters yesterday. Mine tells me how much my monthly SS will be after subtracting Part B premium, Part B IRMAA and Part D IRMAA. Hers only tells her her Part B premium, Part B IRMAA and Part D IRMAA amounts because her monthly SS amount winds up being a negative number which they don't specify. So, we know what the 2020 monthly Part D IRMAA bill will be but have to wait to know how much the humongous annual bill will be. It arrives in the spring and is due in the autumn if I recall correctly.

It's always a pathetic joke dealing with SS when something goes wrong with the billing. NooooBody seems to have a clue. I've listened to DW tell, retell and retell again the situation as her call is transferred around from person to person. What they are good at is sending computer generated letters threatening to cut off her Medicare if payment is not received. But when you don't get a bill, or the hand calculated bill has some silly number on it, it's close to impossible to get someone to talk to you, let alone work on it.

Last years annual bill had an extra $400+ added to it as a separate line item with no explanation. DW tried a number of times to get an answer via telephone to no avail. She wrote a detailed, polite letter but never received a reply. In the end, we sent in a check for the full amount. It just wasn't worth it to see DW so stressed and in tears after hours and hours of getting the runaround.
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Why is your wife's SS not half of your rate at your FRA?
 
All my money is in IRA. My SS and pension will put me just under the cliff for IRMAA when I turn 70.5 and start my SS next year. I have found it would be better to "liberate" a large amount from IRA one year, pay the large IRMAA and tax for that year and then go back to just under the IRMAA cliff. RMDs will be accounted as QCDs for several years with no tax or IRMAA impact. I will push the income with IRA distributions to just under the next cliff above what I want to take out. That's my plan for financing a new truck in a couple of years. :)
 
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This afternoon I *finally* got my letter from SS saying how much my SS will be, how much my Medicare will be, and what the amount deposited will be.

OK, it still doesn't make me happy that it's $38 less each month, but at least it verified that my calculations were correct. :D So there's that.... :LOL:
 
GPO? Group Purchasing Organization?

I had a similar indexed IRMAA question a few days ago. The answer is not clear. If your income is less than IRMAA level in the year it is assessed, can it be appealed?
 
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Perryinva said:
GPO? Group Purchasing Organization?

I had a similar indexed IRMAA question a few days ago. The answer is not clear. If your income is less than IRMAA level in the year it is assessed, can it be appealed?
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Government Pension Offset.

Re the IRMAA, if your circumstances have changed due a life changing event you can appeal to have the premium reduced. That change though must meet SSA's definition of life changing event.

A quick google search should bring you to the SSA rule and form to submit.
 
IRMAA is one of the catches you can get hit with. Another is deducting depreciation on rental property, also paying tax on your SS and I’m sure there are others. This is one big reason I’m doing large conversions from TIRA to Roth, hoping to pay IRMAA for next 7 years while I cut back on TIRA by time for RMDs. Several threads on how to minimize taxes by surgically converting before RMDs you might want to check out.

Another note, when filed for Medicare just by chance the tax year they used was unusual for me and they hit with big IRMAA. I filed the appeal and included most recent 1040, they reduced the hit with no problem. I would certainly recommend if you can.
 
Good to hear. I found the form and criteria. Mine might be harder to appeal. Like everyone else here, 2018 income started IRMAA for 2020. (DW). Mid 2020 will be the end of my severance package income, (qualifying event) so we will be below IRMAA level in 2020. So the question is do they make it retroactive for the entire year 2020, based on 2020 predicted income or do they use 2019, the last filed year? Which would then trigger it for 2021, as 2019 will be in to the second tier IRMAA, and be my last high year. 2020 will be more realistic, about $10k below IRMAA, which is where I plan to be until age 70 while doing tIRA to Roth conversions well in to the 22%. . That should reduce my tIRA level such that even with RMDs and SS, I can stay below IRMAA for both of us with Roth income as the adder. The only saving grace is just DW is on Medicare through 2023. From what I have read, it is a crap shoot as to whether they approve the appeal or not.

Different/same note, just got an email from a fellow retiree that is 69, with 65 year old wife, and both went on Medicare this year. He got his IRMAA email too, which is second tier for both of them and is in a fit., and asked me to explain it to him. He was not expecting the extra $330/m premium at all, which like Car-guy, puts his HI costs way above what he paid when working (HSA!). His son is in his last year at Cornell, with no aid of course, and wants to get his masters there.
 
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I like that this government action is called IRMA so we can put a name to it ... “No one likes Irma.”

And yes, lucky to have enough income to trigger it.
 
It worked for one of my clients selling a rental property. It was treated as a one off event and proff that future income was way below the trigger/

If you wish to appeal your IRMAA, you should visit the Social Security website. Find the form SSA-44 titled Medicare Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount – Life-Changing Event. This form walks you through the steps of providing updated income information as well as listing what documentation will be required for evidence of your new MAGI.
Other reasons for an IRMAA appeal may include:
marriage, divorce or being widowed
the loss of income-producing property
changes or termination of a pension
receipt of a settlement from an employer due to company closure or bankruptcy
 
I just got my letter this week. I'm one level below the top tier (most expensive),,,, again.:facepalm: Next year I should be able to get that down to the bottom (base or least expensive) tier. However, I won't be able to prove it until I file my 2020 tax return in early 2021.


I wonder if I can file for a reimbursement in 2021 for my "over-payments" that I'll be making in 2020 once I can prove it?
 
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Car-Guy said:
I've been retired for almost 8 years now and I'm still in the 2nd from the top IRMMA bracket...:mad: When I was under 65 and had private insurance I got much much better coverage when I paid more. Not so with Medicare.



Call it what you like... IRMMA is simply Medicare's way to means test.
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Yeah, but I have to agree with it. I'll be happy if I get into the next category!
 
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