Aug 16, 2008

GAO Report On Withholding Of Medicare Premiums

I had missed it, but the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report on July 15, 2008 on the withholding of Medicare premiums from Social Security checks. The report indicates that despite work, problems remain.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Parts C and D: As required by MMA,5plans are required to provide beneficiaries with the following payment options:
1 –Have the premium withheld from their Social Security payment.
2 –Have the premium automatically deducted from their checking or savings account, or charged to their credit or debit card.
3 –Have the premium paid by other means specified by CMS, such as by check or money order after receiving a monthly billing statement from the plan, or by a third-party payer.

If you have any sense you will go with option 3 for Part D. Much easier if you switch plans to just stop paying the bill and start paying the new provider.

Anonymous said...

Since Parts C and D are private insurance plans and there are so many different plans the government should not have to spend so much time and energy collecting the premiums for the private insurance companies.