How to Appeal Your High Income IRMAA Medicare Premiums (2024)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Medicare Mindset LLC is an independent insurance agency specializing in Medicare Health Insurance planning. We offer guidance, strategies, and insurance enrollment help from start to finish.

Medicare Mindset, LLC
866.656.4020

[schopmedicare]

I'm a Medicare advisor and I will tell anyone reading: this is an excellent video.

[butopiatoo]

Just successfully appealed IRMAA to use 2023 income instead of 2022. Your videos very helpful. I mailed mine in as suggested so I would have a delivery receipt. Ended up not working because a month after delivery they still had not logged it in. I finally went out on Monday and took a number mid-day, line was too long so I left came back 30 min before close, got another number, saw someone in 15-20 min and was done in 10min or less. They looked at but didn't even want a copy the SSA-44 or my backup info for my estimate. The guy I talked to was super nice, straight forward and zeroed it out based on 2023 income. My advice would be, get your info pulled together fill out the forms and show up when your local office opens and sit there till you make it happen. I wasted a month mailing it in. Thanks for your great explanations and advice on the process. Got a refund (direct deposit) today for the first month (2 days after they zeroed the IRMAA out) deducted through SS check, but now I have to go back and get refund for first two months of the year that I paid directly to CMS BEFORE I started taking SS. Lots of moving

[ghggp]

Outstanding video tutorial! Thank you!

[tombrophy-]

Thank you! I was a tad hesitant about filing. You gave me the confidence I need to file that appeal!!!😊

[DavidCrouch-mkhz]

I watched several videos by other organizations on this topic and this was by far the most helpful, with several tips that clarify how I will appeal the IRMAA decision. Well done!

[JohnFromArlingtron]

Followed your guide and got my IRMAA appeal approved in under 2 weeks from when I dropped off the form and supporting docs at my local SSA office. Thanks!

[jimz.]

Very helpful. You have done the best job of explaining. We just got hammered at the highest level of IRMAA because 2 years ago we sold our business and now have limited income. Thank you so much for this explanation.

[Dom]

I will be charged IRMAA, but because I will retire in at the end of June( currently we are in May) I was told by Social Security rep to wait until I retire to file SSA-44.

[mohawkin]

Thank you for this information, I submitted an appeal and it was accepted! Now I just need to figure out which Medicare option is best for me…

[billolevitch]

Great video/instruction. For clarification purposes: My income-changing event was in Mid-2022 when I 'lost my job' (separation agreement). With that occurring, I decided at 64, to take Soc Security on Dec 22. I will begin a part-time job this May 2023. Right now my IRMMA will be based on our 2021 MAGI.
2021 was our highest income jointly. 2022 will be slightly lower and 2023 will be the lowest. Should I fill out SSA 44 with 2022 actual in step 2 and the 2023 estimate in step 3 or only 2023 estimate in step 2?
Last question, even though I am only filing an IRMMA reconsideration based on my lower income, am I still filling out the "MAGI estimates" on that form for our lower "JOINT MAGI"?

[cmbhhrb]

Thank you for the great video! Clarification question: I and my wife filing joint taxes. I am retiring (hence 'work stoppage' is the reason to file on my form). My wife retired some time back and does not currently have a separate income. What should be chosen as a reason on her SSA-44 form.

[judybriancunningham]

Hi Andy. You answered a question I asked a couple of months ago - thanks for that! I now have another question. My wife and I went on Medicare Parts B and D effective September 1, 2022. Medicare determined that we would owe a Part B and Part D IRMAA, but we had just retired and our income would therefore be lower than in previous years, so we each filed an IRMAA appeal. Medicare accepted our appeal and removed the IRMAA. I received an inheritance in late 2022, and now that I'm completing our 2022 tax return, I'm realizing that we will actually owe the IRMAA after all because the inheritance puts us into a higher income bracket. Will Medicare catch up with this and bill us the IRMAA for the four months we had Medicare in 2022? I believe that we are going to have the same problem in 2023. We successfully filed IRMAA appeals for 2023, so we are now paying the base Part B premium. But I expect another inheritance in 2023 that will put us into a higher bracket again that will require IRMAA payment. I'm assuming Medicare will realize this once I file the tax return and bill us the IRMAA for the months we haven't paid it (and for the rest of the months in 2023). In order to avoid this situation in the future, is it possible to wait to file the IRMAA appeal until you complete your tax return for the year in question? For example, pay the IRMAA each month in 2023, and then when you do your 2023 taxes in early 2024 and realize that your income is low enough that IRMAA didn't apply for 2023, file the appeal at that time and have Medicare refund the IRMAA premiums that you paid throughout 2023)?

[steveschmit]

Andy--

Thank you for the concise and informative video.

My father will no longer be receiving LTC insurance payments. This was the reason he went over on income into the next bracket. His expenses are not going down, he no longer has the LTC AND his SS income is going down??!!

Does loss/end of LTC insurance constitute one of the qualifying reasons to file?

thanks very much

[scottaldrich]

Great information however, I do have one question. If my wife and I file our taxes as "Married filing jointly" do we both have to fill out separate a SSA-44 Forms ?

[judybriancunningham]

As others have stated, this is an extremely helpful video. Thanks so much for putting it together! I do have one question. I received an IRMAA notice for 2023 and I want to appeal it because I retired earlier in 2022, so my income in 2023 will be lower than my 2021 income. I downloaded form SSA-44, but it's dated 12-2021 and it has the IRMA brackets for 2022, not 2023. So it appears that the form for 2023 has not been created by the Social Security Administration yet. Can I use this 12-2021 form (with the 2022 brackets) to appeal my 2023 IRMAA?

[donnasides]

Thank you for your information, yes the form is very confusing and even speaking to a SS rep, doesn't offer much in the way of clarification. We have a life changing event, a work force reduction for in 2023. We are paying higher IRMMA based on 2021 tax year. One income has been slashed effectively 2 months into this year and we are having to pay higher IRMMA rates based on 2021. We will probably elect to take Unemployment, but no guarantee he will get another job (at his age and may even elect to retire), do we complete the form in step 2 as Tax Year 2023 with adjusted gross income minus his salary? The intent is to reduce the current IRMMA, which we are no longer in a position to pay. Thank you for this video, very helpful.

[rossde]

Great video! I just started medicare at 65 this month as i have gone to very part time. My IRMAA determination notice put us in the Married filing jointly bracket in my 2021 MAGI that starts at 366K. I just filled out my 2022 1040 and that form puts my MAGI in the middle bracket 306K to 366K. My 2023 income will be lower than 306K but I might have to do a ROTH conversion that would artificially increase my income. My life changing event was a reduction in work hours on 4/3/2023. What do I put in step 2 and Step 3? Should I try to push for the lower bracket in Step 3 based on probable lower income (<306K) this year ( 2023)?

[cjwemfe]

hi, great video, I will subscribe. My question is: I had a life-changing event in 2018 and my wife was just laid off from her job on February 1st, 2024. Do I file my form with my 2018 event and hers with her 2024 event? If we do that, do we put our 2023 joint tax return information on my step 2 and an estimate for 2024 on her step 2? Note that our 2023 return (already filed) has AGI of $157K and our estimate for 2024 will be about $164K. Or, do we file with just my wife's event on both forms? In that case, do we put 2023 or 2024 on both forms? And say "No" on part 3.

[sonarvord]

Hi Andy! I filed for Medicare this year and will start June 1. I received a Medicare Premiums notice in the mail. From TY 2021 to 2022 household income will drop by 70%. 2022 taxes have been filed. Should I wait until Medicare starts before filing an appeal or should I do it now? Thank you!

[jaye]

I plan to retire next year when I turn 70, August 2023. I know my premium for Medicare B will be based on 2021 yearly income. But I plan to continue to work part time one day a week after retirement after retiring. Will my premiums be automatically readjusted by Medicare due to the change in yearly income or will I have to fill out a form in future years? Next question will this change my monthly social security check amount with the drop in income?