It’s that time of year again. Medicare beneficiaries have received notice of how much they are paying this year for their Medicare Part B monthly premium. Meanwhile, beneficiaries of a certain age know they must withdraw money from previously untaxed savings before year’s end. For some, th ese two money matters could be related.  For the record, this year’s standard Medicare Part B monthly premium is $202.90, up $17.90 (9.6%) from last year. For higher-income beneficiaries, however, the Part B premium rises based on income. It’s more than $202.90 if an individual has a gross annual income more than $109,000, or $218,000 for a couple, based on tax returns filed in 2024. In fact, the Medicare premiums rise in income-based stages and can go as high as $689.90 a month for the wealthiest among us. A table at Medicare.gov shows how this works. The Part B premium is intended to pay part of the cost of delivering Medicare services. To reduce the premium from the amounts higher than $202.90, a Medicare beneficiary may consider two options: Those who are required to take a “required minimum distribution” from a previously untaxed financial account may withdraw the funds as a “qualified charitable distribution.” Doing this means the withdrawal won’t show up as income when taxes are filed. Many financial institutions make it easy to do this.  Or, if certain circumstances have significantly reduced your income, you may ask to reduce your Part B premium by filing form SSA-44 with the Social Security Administration. Social Security accepts six “life-changing” causes, among them loss of income because your job ended, or death or divorce from an income-earning spouse. Last month’s column said seven counties have no access to Medicare insurance. At risk of sounding falsely altruistic, what do people in those counties do for coverage? Medicare beneficiaries in those counties do have access to insurance beyond Medicare only, but no Medicare Advantage plans are available to Medicare beneficiaries in those counties. A majority of beneficiaries nationwide enroll in MA plans. The seven counties are Curry on the coast and, in Eastern Oregon, Grant, Harney, Lake, Umatilla, Union and Wheeler. Surprisingly, the counties include communities of some size such as Pendleton and La Grande. More to the point, though, the seven counties embrace an estimated 30,000 Medicare beneficiaries. To your question: What can people with Medicare in these counties do about insurance? These are principal choices: Stay with original Medicare (that is, Medicare only), and add prescription drug insurance to help with drug costs at the pharmacy. This has the advantage of needing no preauthorization for medical treatments and services, and the disadvantage of having no ceiling on annual medical costs. Enroll in Medicare supplement (Medigap) insurance, whose monthly premium for the most robust policy (Plan G) would be about $160 for a 65-year-old. Plan N, at perhaps $115 a month, has reduced benefits that many people would consider minor sacrifices. For either plan, one would need to enroll in a separate drug insurance plan, as well.  Enroll in a high-deductible Medigap Plan G policy, where the monthly premium for the 65-year-old Medicare enrollee would be about $40. The insured would pay the share of medical costs that Medicare doesn’t pay up to $2,870. Although that is a lot of money, it’s significantly less than the annual ceiling on medical costs with Medicare Advantage plans. One would need to enroll in a separate drug-insurance plan, as well.  I don’t like my insurance plan, and each year I tell myself I’ll look for another one. With the holidays and all I forgot to do that during last year’s enrollment time. Am I stuck waiting almost a year? Perhaps you could change plans now. If you have Medicare Advantage insurance you can change any time during the first three months of the year, Jan. 1 through March 31. If you decide to change insurance, the new plan would begin the first of the month after your new enrollment. If, however, you have Medicare supplement (Medigap) insurance, then you could change at any time. However, using Oregon’s Medigap birthday rule would protect you against the new Medigap insurance policy charging a higher premium because of a pre-existing health condition. Jim Sellers of Salem is a certified Medicare counselor with the Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance (SHIBA) program. To ask a question to be answered in this column, e-mail [email protected]. To schedule a free SHIBA phone, Zoom or in-person appointment with a volunteer Medicare counselor, please call 800-722-4134. STORY TIP OR IDEA? Send an email to Salem Reporter’s news team: [email protected]. LOCAL NEWS DELIVERED TO YOU: Subscribe to Salem Reporter and get all the fact-based Salem news that matters to you. Fair, accurate, trusted – SUBSCRIBE The post COLUMN: Don’t pay too high a premium for Medicare Part B appeared first on Salem Reporter. ...read more read less