Medicare Rights Center Guide Details Steps for IRMAA Appeals

Advisors now have a guide to help them, as well as their clients, understand the Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) and how to appeal a Social Security Administration IRMAA rate decision.

The Medicare Rights Center said that it recently released a free downloadable guide, How to Appeal a Higher Part B or Part D Premium, that provides information on IRMAA, which is the additional amount that folks with Medicare must pay for Medicare Part B premiums and/or Part D premiums when their annual incomes are above a certain amount.

In 2017, individuals and couples are required to pay an additional Medicare Part B and/or D premium when their annual incomes are above $85,001 and $170,001, respectively. The rate these individuals pay is based on four annual income levels.

The guide is designed to “help professionals ensure their clients are paying the correct amount for their Part B and Part D premiums,” Casey Schwarz, senior counsel of Education & Federal Policy at the Medicare Rights Center, told ThinkAdvisor in an email message. “We hear regularly from people who want to help their clients understand and sometimes appeal their IRMAA amounts.”