Notice that SS check debited for past due medical insurance premiums

[SuzBanyan]

I have my SS survivors benefit scheduled to start in Feb, with first check in March. I received a letter today that my benefits will now first be paid in May due to”withholding of all your monthly benefits … to recover past due medical insurance premiums.” I have been on Medicare since 10/23 and have made 6 quarterly payments: 1 for 2023, 4 for 2024 and 1 for 2025. Is there another kind of “medical insurance premiums” that could cause withholding from my SS check? Without the seeing the calculations used by SS, if it is just Medicare Part B, it looks like they think about 4 quarterly payments have been missed. Should I call SS or just file a formal appeal?

[Marq1]

Why wouldn't you call first?

[SuzBanyan]

Why wouldn't you call first?

Only that it takes time and would prefer not to do so if the answer will inevitably be that I need to file an appeal. Filing an appeal was the only option given if I disagreed with the action taken.

[delamer]

Any chance that IRMAA kicked in without the SSA/Medicare catching it on a timely basis?

[SuzBanyan]

Any chance that IRMAA kicked in without the SSA/Medicare catching it on a timely basis?

I did wonder about that. But wouldn’t I have gotten a letter at some point? And if it did kick in, it would have to be because I was filing as a Single in 2023 and 2024 but my combined income with deceased husband when we filed MFJ in 2021 and 2022 exceeded the IRMAA limits for those filing Single.

[delamer]

Any chance that IRMAA kicked in without the SSA/Medicare catching it on a timely basis?

I did wonder about that. But wouldn’t I have gotten a letter at some point? And if it did kick in, it would have to be because I was filing as a Single in 2023 and 2024 but my combined income with deceased husband when we filed MFJ in 2021 and 2022 exceeded the IRMAA limits for those filing Single.

It’s possible that that notification will arrive soon. With handoffs between and within agencies, one may process a change before the other has notified you.

[SuzBanyan]

I did wonder about that. But wouldn’t I have gotten a letter at some point? And if it did kick in, it would have to be because I was filing as a Single in 2023 and 2024 but my combined income with deceased husband when we filed MFJ in 2021 and 2022 exceeded the IRMAA limits for those filing Single.

It’s possible that that notification will arrive soon. With handoffs between and within agencies, one may process a change before the other has notified you.

But the notice would be that I owed IRMAA in 2023 (based on 2021 MAGI) and 2024 (based on 2022) income. So it seems like it is already a year late.

And this would upend everything I thought I knew about IRMAA after your spouse passes away. Maybe I needed to file an appeal redetermination due to the death of a spouse.

Let’s say my income was as follows:

2021 MFJ $150k
2022 MFJ $150k (this is the year the spouse passes)
2023 Single $75k
2024 Single $75k

Maybe I should have asked that my 2023 and 2024 be determined based on 2023 and 2024. I didn’t think that was necessary because I would not have paid IRMAA in either of those years had I continued to file MFJ. Hard to know when (if) IRMAA is assessed so long after the fact.

[delamer]

It’s possible that that notification will arrive soon. With handoffs between and within agencies, one may process a change before the other has notified you.

But the notice would be that I owed IRMAA in 2023 (based on 2021 MAGI) and 2024 (based on 2022) income. So it seems like it is already a year late.

And this would upend everything I thought I knew about IRMAA after your spouse passes away. Maybe I needed to file an appeal redetermination due to the death of a spouse.

Let’s say my income was as follows:

2021 MFJ $150k
2022 MFJ $150k (this is the year the spouse passes)
2023 Single $75k
2024 Single $75k

Maybe I should have asked that my 2023 and 2024 be determined based on 2023 and 2024. I didn’t think that was necessary because I would not have paid IRMAA in either of those years had I continued to file MFJ. Hard to know when (if) IRMAA is assessed so long after the fact.

I was just offering a possible explanation for the additional deductions. Obviously, I don’t know your particulars and/or whether my explanation is feasible.

[Chip Munk]

Log in to your online account and see if there are any messages, letters, and/or a breakdown of what would have been your first benefit payment. In the past, I've found electronic copies of notices in my account a few days before the hard copy arrived in the mail.

[SuzBanyan]

Thanks everyone for the thoughtful suggestions. My online account doesn’t show any specifics about the change in benefits start date: only that the payment is on hold. Looks like I will try to call and see if I can get specific information about the unpaid medical premiums. Maybe I will even find out that it is due to IRMAA for 2023 and 2024, which might then be cleared up with a couple of SSA-44 filings.

[sayitaintso]

Hi SuzBanyan. Did you find a resolution to your issue? My wife, whose first Spousal Benefit payments should have begun in April of this year, received a similar email stating that they were withholding all of her monthly benefits to recover past due medical insurance premiums. She has been on Medicare since 2023 and all of her payments have been made on time using Medicare's Easy Pay direct debit from our savings account. When I called SS, the person I spoke to (who didn't seem too convincing in his response) said that he would send an email to the Payment Systems department (you know, the one that is being run by the DOGE bros) and ask then to cross reference my wife's SS number to my SS number. The one other odd thing about the letter my wife received is that it said her benefit payment for May would be twice her monthly benefit. It didn't say anything about "paying up" her medical premiums first, so perhaps it just a timing issue.

[SuzBanyan]

Hi SuzBanyan. Did you find a resolution to your issue? My wife, whose first Spousal Benefit payments should have begun in April of this year, received a similar email stating that they were withholding all of her monthly benefits to recover past due medical insurance premiums. She has been on Medicare since 2023 and all of her payments have been made on time using Medicare's Easy Pay direct debit from our savings account. When I called SS, the person I spoke to (who didn't seem too convincing in his response) said that he would send an email to the Payment Systems department (you know, the one that is being run by the DOGE bros) and ask then to cross reference my wife's SS number to my SS number. The one other odd thing about the letter my wife received is that it said her benefit payment for May would be twice her monthly benefit. It didn't say anything about "paying up" her medical premiums first, so perhaps it just a timing issue.

That double payment for May certainly seems odd.

My issue has yet to be resolved. I spoke with SS on Feb 7 and got a similar comments that all Medicare premiums seem to have been paid and that they would send an electronic request to stop the hold. 5 weeks later, my SS account still says there is a hold. I’m going to file an appeal just to make sure that I’m not waiving the failure by SS to pay my benefit on time. My supposed underpayment of insurance premiums sure looks like not getting credit for any Medicare premium paid since I started Medicare 6 quarters ago. For me, the numbers seem to add up, with a slight rounding error.

I did read that the policy on collecting overpayments from seniors has just been changed so that an overpayment by SS will result in 100% withholding (up from 10%) until paid in full. Per the SS website, notices regarding this additional withholding will go out March 27. While this doesn’t directly affect me, it is probably good to get my appeal in before these letters let some seniors know that they won’t be getting any SS for some period of time.