Introduction: IRMAA is a scheme whereby the government hikes your premiums after you encounter a year when you confessed too much so-called “income”. They use Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) in their calculation. For example
Base payment for Part B: $164.90, applies to single with MAGI under $97,000.00
Tier 1 for part B: add $65.90, if MAGI is 97k-123K
Tier 2 for part B: add $164.90 if MAGI is 123k-153K
Several more tiers, but you get the idea…
Question then! For “Taxable Year” 2022, what year is the calculation taken from? 2020?
Second question: If you got hit with iRMAA for 2022 but your MAGI went way down in 2021, should the IRMAA not disappear for 2023?
I personally think that the way Medicare premiums are calculated is socialistic because if your income is very low you don’t have to pay for your Medicare premium and every one else pays a premium based on their income.
Maven you are correct. The whole thing is socialist from the get go.
Going back up to jimtoo… Indeed this is what I thought was the way it was done:
2022 is based on 2020 MAGI
2023 is based on 2021 MAGI
Only I got a statement showing usage of 2020 for 2023! Says you can request adjustment if you had a life changing event. Well I had one all right and got a new bride in 2020. Did some backdoor Roth and sold her house that we thought would be tax free. Only she came from 0% tax bracket because it was getting written off for biz that she had and OOPS! Smoke now cleared and we are way under IRMAA threshold for 2021.
Is anybody forcing you to use it? Why not opt out and get some good old private sector health insurance. The premium for a 70 something person on a standalone policy might pay a bit more in premiums, but it would allow you to decline socialism.
One opt out of Part B and/or Part D at age 65, which many folks do if they are employed and covered by an employee plan. Many employers require an opt in at age 65 and the employee coverages may be secondary. If one is not working at age 65 and opts out, you will pay a huge penalty if you opt in later.
People need to understand how complex the rules are for health care after retirement. Instead of simplifying rules for health care, the federal government makes them ridiculously complicated.
KC, are you retarded? Do you even think about what you say before you put it down???
What medical policies are available for US citizens 65+ where Mecidrap is not primary coverage? NONE that I have found. Government has a monopoly on health insurance for seniors. There IS not alternative that I have been able to find. and it is ILLEGAL for docs to ignore my Meidcrap coverage and just take my cash.
Medicrap is an increasingly crummy coverage that we are FORCED to pay for all our lives. Right now my physician that used to see me for under the table cash retired, and I have been unable to find another internist or GP who takes more Medicrap patients. NOBODY around here want more Medicrap patients, the reimbursements are so low for primary care docs.
If we don’t lift the fee restrictions for non-par primary care docs, there will be no care for seniors, I may be forced to pay for a concierge practice to obtain care- or travel to the 3rd world and pay cash for treatment.
Do you know if your 2021 tax return has been processed by the IRS? Our 2019 return was not timely processed and S/S our 2018 return to calculate 2021 IRMAA. They adjusted the January 2022 S/S payment for the difference.
When my friend retired a few years ago he decided to take his pension as a single lump sum payment instead of receiving a monthly pension check. Consequently that made his Medicare premiums outrageously high for a few years after he retired.
Will they break the law? Medicare is the default primary insurance for every senior American. There is no private policy that is primary for Medicare seniors.
That being said, Rush Limbaugh said he did not pay for Medical insurance and paid cash for any medical treatment. I guess you can do that by declining Medicrap, but you cannot buy a policy that is the primary one if over 65.
You cannot get it through your thick skull that decent medical care will become non-existent for seniors unless Medicrap price caps for non-par providers are abolished. To collectivists, non-existent care is better than good care at high out-of-pocket prices.
Specialists are paid much more generously than primary care docs by Medicrap.
If your dad were alive today, finding a new internist or FP that wanted more Medicare patients might be very difficult. My old internist said he was paid $18.75 for a follow-up visit.
Well…I’m looking for a new primary care doctor. Mine stopped taking Medicare. He also stopped taking private insurance. He has become a concierge provider, which is great and all, but it would cost me $100 on top of the other insurance I buy for hospitalizations, surgeries, physical therapy and other things. And I usually only see the doc twice a year. Meaning that for $1200, I can get two doctors visits. And that’s it. But as it is, while I like the guy, I just can’t bring myself to pay $1200 per year to just one doctor
Thought you said I was full of bunk and there were no trouble finding physicians for Medicrap patients.
Honest advice to you and all the other seniors on this forum. Write your congressmen and senators. Tell them to drop to cap of fees for out-of-network Medicare providers. If the guys could charge $95 for a followup visit intread of $18.75, and balance bill any remainder, there would be no trouble finding internists and GPs to treat Medicare patient. That would mean only about $80 copay every visit, and you could skip concierge.
Your precious big government is responsible for your predicament and no one else.