A Couple Bought the Cheapest Part D Plan to Save.
Medicare Took a $174 Surcharge From Each of Their Social Security Checks Anyway
Quick Read – Part D IRMAA is a per-person income surcharge that costs each spouse at least $174 a year when joint MAGI exceeds $218,000. – Roth conversions, capital gains, and RMDs can push household MAGI over $218,000, triggering IRMAA on both spouses’ Part B and Part D premiums. – Retirees whose income spiked from retirement, spousal death, or divorce can file SSA-44 to reset IRMAA to current income, but most who qualify never do. – The Bargain Plan That Wasn’t A married couple, both about 67 and newly on Medicare, sat down during open enrollment and did what many budget-minded people do. They lined up the Part D drug plans side by side, picked the one with the lowest monthly premium, and felt good about trimming a fixed cost. A few months later, their Social Security deposits came in lighter than expected.
Medicare had pulled an extra surcharge from each of their checks, and the “cheap plan” they had chosen had nothing to do with stopping it. This is one of the most common Medicare surprises among higher-income retirees, and online retirement forums are full of versions of the same question: we picked the lowest-cost drug plan, so why is Medicare still taking more out of our Social Security? The answer has nothing to do with the plan and everything to do with a separate income-based add-on that gets stapled onto Part D regardless of which plan you choose.