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Advice on Medicare Part B


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11 minutes ago, pappysmarket said:

Interesting, sounds like the person who reviewed his case gave a very good decision. For $105/Mo. I don't want to take a chance my reviewer might not be so open minded. Plus waiting for the Open Enrollment.

Pappy, I should clarify.  We did not try to sign up mid year so maybe you could we don't know. It was our decision to wait until open enrollment, it was only a few months wait.

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El Menudo, it's great that your partner got that decision.  I had always heard there is a penalty, and this is the first time I've ever heard of a living-overseas exception - which you can see is not made clear on the Medicare website.  Obviously it would make a huge difference for those of us who want to reserve our options to go back to the US, and now I don't know if there is a way to know in advance whether the fee would be waived or not.  I guess a call to Medicare is in order - not that I would rely on what they say without something written to back it up. 

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37 minutes ago, El Menudo said:

I am sorry Alan but your friend is not correct.  The person Elisabeth is speaking of is my partner.  He signed up for Medicare at 65 (no part b coverage).  When we returned to Texas he was 70 and then signed up for part b.  They charged him a penalty at first.  He applied for a waiver with a letter to the address he was sent from Medicare.  With it he sent copies of:

permanente card, lease agreements, home deeds, LCS volunteer badge, utility bills, every page from his old and current US passports etc.

At first they denied his petition but two weeks later they sent a letter that a review had been done and a waiver was granted!  They even returned the dollars of penalty for the months before the waiver was granted.  It was not an easy process but it worked.  NO PENALTY!!!!!!  YEAH!!!!!

I  wasn´t directing the comment to you but could have made it clearer. "My friend who has always lived in the US instead of my friend who lives in the US. I was commenting on pappysmarket post above mine and thought I would add what the permanent penalty was he is paying - $50.00 more per month or $600.00 per year,

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6 minutes ago, AlanMexicali said:

I  wasn´t directing the comment to you but could have made it clearer. "My friend who has always lived in the US instead of my friend who lives in the US. I was commenting on pappysmarket post above mine and thought I would add what the permanent penalty was he is paying - $50.00 more per month.

Ah now I get it!

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My understanding of the "penalty/no penalty" is: 

IF one is already 65 and already on Medicare and already has Part B, and then, say, leaves the country for some period of time and decides to drop Plan B payments, then for this person, if they decide they do again want Part B, there is a 10% penalty assessed for every year the person had gone without Plan B.

IF one is not 65 and therefore not on Medicare and lives outside of the US.... then at a later post-65 YO (say 70 YO) decides he/she wants to have Part B, then this person who is getting Part B for the first time will not be assessed a penalty for those 5 years where they did not have Part B and will begin paying the then-current premium for the coverage.

P.S.  Those of us who are on Part B 'may' be paying differing amounts for their premium depending on when we signed up originally. For a person already on Medicare and paying Part B, in the years when there is no COL adjustment given to Social Security, by law the Part B premium for Medicare cannot increase. BUT the rate continues to rise for any newbies who come onto Part B later.

 

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I had Part B when I moved to Mexico.  I cancelled it by mail and telephone for both me and my spouse.  After a dozen years, dropping it has saved over $25,000 US. Since neither of us can imagine any good reason to return to the U.S. (short of a bloody revolution), we have been easily able to pay for our various medical needs out of pocket and have plenty left in that "medical savings account".  So.......it all depends on your plans for the future and whether you think you'd move back NOB.

The problem with the policy of excluding expats from receiving health care abroad under Part B is that it is a classic case of NOT getting what you pay for.  The government doesn't have to put out money for our care, so they save.  We get nada for carrying Part B.  Not a good deal.

 

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No mexbound, as has been stated above one CAN drop Part B after joining and then join at a later date down the road BUT.... this is when one will have to pay a 10% penalty PER YEAR you went without being enrolled. AND the rejoin rate will be the then-current rate (plus penalties), not the rate you were paying when you decided to drop it originally.

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