Community Chat

[willdob3]

---

@Carmie wrote:

@Hippiified   I am new to Medicare for myself.  I just went on it in May.

I have worked in health insurance since 1988, so I am familiar with Medicare and insurance.

What you are referring to is the " hold harmless rule."  This rule protects people who already have Medicare Part B.  If the Medicare Part B premium goes up and there is no COLA for Social Security for that year, the Medicare premium will stay the same until a COLA has been received.

However, all new Medicare enrollees will pay this higher premium immediately.  When the COLA is received, everyone has to pay the higher rate immediately.  The COLA might not 100% cover the price increase.

This has happened last year when the COLA was received.  There were was a lot of complaints from people on the boards.  They were paying the lower cost for Medicare for quite a while and the cost increase ate up social security raise.

---

@Carmie 

What about those on Medicare who are not receiving Social security yet? 

[Carmie]

@willdob3   If you are on Medicare, but are not yet claiming Social Security benefits, the Hold Harmless rules will not apply.

If the Medicare Part B payment goes up you will immediately begin paying the higher Premium directly to Social Security.

This very thing happened to my husband.

[willdob3]

---

@Carmie wrote:

@willdob3   If you are on Medicare, but are not yet claiming Social Security benefits, the Hold Harmless rules will not apply.

If the Medicare Part B payment goes up you will immediately begin paying the higher Premium directly to Social Security.

This very thing happened to my husband.

---

@Carmie 

Thank you. That is what I thought but I couldn’t help but hope I was wrong. It will still be less than I’m paying for insurance now, not yet on Medicare.