Hi Larry,
I have a similar question to one Jerry posed to you a couple of years ago regarding potential overpayment of Medicare premium when you go on Medicare long before receiving your SSA benefit. In my case, however, my quarterly Meficare payment is due April 25 (for months May-July) and I will begin receiving SSA at end of May (due to late April birthday), so I would presumably be overpaying 3 months of Medicare premiums (rather than just one in Jerry's case).

I am inclined to just skip the April quarterly Medicare payment (for May-July) since the May premium will be deducted from my initial SSA benefit (for April but paid in arrears at end of May). This would avoid having to rely on the government to refund a full quarterly premium payment at some point.

I suppose the caveat in this case is that Medicare would not get its May premium until the fourth Wednesday of May rather than in advance of the month if I made the (May-June-July) payment now.

What to do?
Thanks!
David

Hi David. Based on your description of events It sounds like you'd be safe to skip your quarterly payment, but I don't think you'd have to wait too long for a refund if you decided out of an abundance of caution to pay in advance instead. In my experience Social Security is generally refunds duplicate Medicare premium payments within 60 days. Like I say, though, paying the quarterly premium certainly sounds unnecessary in your case. If your Medicare premium billing lists a phone number you can contact with questions, you might want to give them a call and discuss it with them.

Best, Jerry