What to Know about Your Medicare Premium Bill
Here are some important things to know about your Medicare premium bill.
- Expect the bill around the 10th day of the month. Medicare premium bills are often delivered on or around the 10th day of each month. Some people only get a bill once every 3 months; others receive their bills monthly.
- You’re paying for next month’s coverage. Medicare bills you for the next month, rather than the month you’re currently in. If you’re billed every month and you receive a bill in January, you’re paying for coverage in February. If you’re billed every 3 months and you get a bill in June, your payment is for coverage in July, August, and September.
- Your full premium is due by the date on the Form CMS-500. Your payment is due on the 25th of the same month you got the bill. It’s important to pay the bill by the due date. If you don’t pay the full amount on time, you could lose your Medicare coverage. [3] Making a partial payment cannot stop Medicare from canceling your coverage.
If you need help paying your Medicare premiums, you may qualify for one of these events for lower-income Medicare beneficiaries:
- Medicaid: Medicaid [4] is operated jointly by state and federal governments. It’s a healthcare safety net program.
- Qualified Medicare Beneficiary (QMB) program: The QMB program offers help paying Medicare Part A and Part B deductibles, premiums, copays, and coinsurance.
- Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary (SLMB) program: The SLMB program pays Medicare Part B premiums.
- Qualifying Individual (QI) program: The QI program helps you pay Part B premiums if you don’t qualify for Medicaid.
- Qualified Disabled and Working Individual (QDWI) program: The QDWI program provides help with paying Medicare Part A premiums.
- Extra Help: The Extra Help program provides assistance paying your Part D drug coverage premiums. [5]
If you are part of a Medicare Advantage health plan or a Part D drug plan, or change to another, and decide to have the premiums deducted from your Social Security check, take note of the following situations that can occur:
- It may take two months or more for the deductions to begin. This implies that the number of premiums owed from the time you joined the plan will be taken out of one month’s check.
- If you change to another health or drug plan (for example, during the annual open enrollment period or if you move outside your current plan’s service area), the deductions will not automatically continue. When you start a new plan, you need to make a new payment choice. If you again choose deductions from your Social Security check, the delay described above may happen again.
- If you change to a different plan, Social Security may continue deducting the premiums from your old plan from your check for a couple of months or so. Social Security will refund the payments to you directly.
- If you have other coverage (for instance, from an employer, union or state pharmacy assistance program) that pays part of your premium, Social Security still reduces the whole premium amount from your check. It is the plan, not Social Security, which must refund the amount due to you. However, if you decide to pay the plan directly, instead of having Social Security deduct your premiums, you’d be billed only for your share and your other coverage would pay its share directly to the plan, too.
You should know that if your income is not sufficient, you may qualify to have your Medicare Part B premiums paid by your state under one of the old Medicare Savings Programs. If you qualify for one of these programs, you’re also automatically entitled to low-cost Extra Help benefits under the Medicare Part D prescription drug program. It’s important to pay premiums on time, to avoid losing your coverage.
If you reapply for coverage during the next enrollment period, you could end up paying higher premiums or long-term consequences. The provided information in this article should stop you from making mistakes. It is not intended to offer advice regarding the purchase or use of any insurance or insurance services. [6]
Conclusion
In most cases, you don’t get a bill directly from Medicare for their premiums. If you do, you have different ways to pay it.
You can pay online, by either scheduling automatic electronic payments via your bank or using Medicare Easy Pay. You can also pay online with your debit or credit card. Medicare permits you to send credit or debit card payments via the mail. You can also mail checks or money orders directly to Medicare. Bills are normally received around the 10th day of the month and are due on the 25th day of the month. Depending on your plan, your bill might arrive once every month or once every 3 months. .
Reference:
[1] https://www.retireguide.com/medicare/costs/premiums/medicare-easy-pay/
[2] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/050214/credit-vs-debit-cards-which-better.asp
[3] https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/medicare/
[4] https://www.myflfamilies.com/service-programs/access/medicaid/
[5] https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/prescription-drug-coverage/
[6] https://www.alliant.com/pages/default.aspx