Ask Larry

Hi Larry,

I see that many people have this issue of duplicate Medicare Part B premium payments, because they get billed for 3 months, even though they're starting Social Security within that 3 month period. I likely will have the same thing happen next month too.

Like others on this ask-larry forum, I too have searched & searched online & find virtually nothing addressing this, other than this blog - CONGRATS to you.

Is it permissible to just pay for 1 or 2 months (whatever is needed prior to the first Social Security payment), instead of all 3? Can a local Social Security office arrange for this? It just seems there's got to be an easier way to handle this than waiting months for a refund.

Thank you

Hi. I don't believe so, but I'm not certain. The quarterly Medicare billings are handled by private companies who contract with Medicare for that purpose. As far as I know, Social Security has no way of coordinating information with those private contractors.

I do know that withholding Part B premiums from a person's Social Security payment is automatic when someone who's enrolled in Part B of Medicare starts drawing Social Security benefits. There is no way for Social Security to defer the automatic premium withholding in the case of a person who has paid their quarterly Part B premiums in advance. I don't know what would happen if you responded to a quarterly Part B billing by paying for only one or two months instead of the full amount.

I can tell you that in my experience, duplicate Part B premium payments were typically refunded automatically within about 60 days. I have received some recent questions that indicate that the refunds may be taking longer nowadays, though.

Best, Jerry