Meet fit and flourishing Franklin, age 79.

We started working together three years ago, long after he first became eligible for Medicare.

He’s not in the Group Plan we set up for his employees, opting instead for his own Medicare Supplement Policy, albeit one without drug coverage . . . . because he’s been so darn healthy and not taking any meds.

Here’s the problem.

There’s a Medicare Annual Open Enrollment Period for Part D coverage. Absent some kind of penalty, seniors would wait to enroll until after they were prescribed expensive drugs.

That penalty is 1% of the “national base monthly premium” – for 2024, $34.70 – for every month since the Beneficiary first became eligible for coverage. (Details HERE.)

For Franklin, it’s been 179 months. 

So when we encouraged him to finally sign up, thus stopping the inevitable penalty from further increase, even a $0 premium Part D Plan (yes, those exist) cost $55.17/month. Plus, as a high income individual, he has an $81 Part D IRMAA deduction from his monthly Social Security check. 

For the 93% of seniors earning < $97,000/year (the threshold for IRMAA), those penalties are daunting.

Franklin will scrape by!!