Medicare Part B Deduction Start Time

[PERSonalTime]

DW turns 65 in mid-March and is already receiving social security retirement benefits. She has signed up for Medicare and has received a card indicating that that Part A and B begins April 1st. Knowing that SS benefits are paid in arrears, I'm wondering will the the Part B deduction actually occur. While it be deducted from the check she receives at the end of March or the one she gets at the end of April What has been your experience? Thanks!

 

[Telly]

DW turns 65 in mid-March and is already receiving social security retirement benefits. She has signed up for Medicare and has received a card indicating that that Part A and B begins April 1st. Knowing that SS benefits are paid in arrears, I'm wondering will the the Part B deduction actually occur. While it be deducted from the check she receives at the end of March or the one she gets at the end of April What has been your experience? Thanks!

I'm holding off on SS, but have been on Medicare for a while. My Part B premium is withdrawn from our bank account every month via Medicare's EasyPay EFT. It is withdrawn the month BEFORE, ie. payment for February is withdrawn during January.

I don't really know, but it would seem to make sense that since the driver is Medicare, the same scheme would follow for deducting the Part B premium from SS monthly benefit.

If nothing else, my post to your question with zero answers so far, may induce others to post

 

[PERSonalTime]

Telly,

Thanks for stepping up and being the brave person to give me a response. Your answer is really helpful! I guess I’ll just continue waiting to see what others say, but your response about taking the Part B charge out the preceding month seems to make a lot of sense. Thanks again.

 

[audreyh1]

I remember someone telling us about Telly’s scenario. During the switchover, the first payment was duplicate both taken from Easypay due to paying ahead, and again from the first SS check. Then the EasyPay payment was refunded at some point not long after.

But I don’t remember someone sharing how it worked if they were already drawing SS when they started Medicare.

I do know that when someone dies, they supposedly don’t get a SS check for the month of passing, but the SS check that is received that month was for the prior month. So practically speaking, they actually got a check the month they died, and the last Medicare payment was taken out that month, but they were covered by Medicare that last month - yet didn’t pay? So it’s confusing to me.

I called SS when my Dad passed, as I thought they were going to take back his last SS deposit. But they explained that his last SS is paid in arrears and that recent SS deposit was actually for the month before he died, so no that was not going anywhere. It was the next month’s deposit that would be taken back if it happened to deposited. And sure enough, that’s what happened. A deposit immediately followed by a reversal. Did they still pay Medicare for the month of death from that? Who knows!

 

[PERSonalTime]

Hey everybody I figured it out!

In this case, the first Part B deduction would occur in April. That’s because Part B deductions are made in advance of the month that the coverage is being provided for. Social Security retirement “benefits” are always paid in arrears. Medicare coverage begins April1st. That means the check received in April is actually for theSocial Security benefit earned in the month of March.

Since part B benefits are paid in advance, the deduction is taken out of the March check that is paid in April. So the Part B deduction is actually assessed on the March benefit check, which is paid in April “after” Medicare coverage actually begins. Thanks to everyone for their responses!