Medicare Income-related Adjustment

[misanman]

I will be retiring at the end of this week and recently received a notice from the SSA that DW and I will each be assessed a income-related monthly adjustment for Medicare Part B based on our 2013 income tax return.

The background is that, due in part to 2013 Roth conversions, we accidentally slipped above the $170K MAGI limit. I didn't realize that this could be a problem until it was too late to do something to fix it. We are okay with respect to 2013 because I was (finally) paying attention.

This will hit us as we enter our first month of retirement. What great timing.

The notice indicates that we are able to request a "new decision" based on a lower MAGI due to one of several "life changing" events, one of which is "stopped working".

So it seems clear that we should request a new decision. Has anyone run in to this issue and how successful were you with the process?

Thx

 

[nwsteve]

Got the same notice from Medicare for 2014 and just got current year notice of 2015 being at the 104 +/- monthly fee. I cut the margin too close and did not allow for the add back of some tax free income that is included when computing MAGI.
Unfortunately, I had no "life changing" event to use to petition for relief. Good luck on your request. I would not delay as Medicare make take awhile to process your inquiry.
Nwsteve

 

[Brett_Cameron]

Yes we were in that situation. Once I filed federal taxes for the year with the lower income, I went to the SSA office and gave them a copy of the return as proof that income had changed.
Previous attempts to head off the surcharge before it was imposed failed and I had to get it removed after the fact.

They removed the surcharge and paid back the previously paid surcharge.

 

[braumeister]

IRMAA is a PITA to be sure.
We've been dealing with it for years. But it's still far cheaper than what we would have to pay for equivalent medical insurance if we were under Medicare age, so I don't grumble all that much.