Over the last few days, we’ve been getting many emails and messages from people telling us that insurance companies are asking them to pay for part of their policy premiums upfront.
To give you a quick answer, this is not normal. When you sign up for a policy, sometimes the first month’s premium will be drafted when the policy is issued, this is not unusual. However, if you the insurance company asking you to pre-pay more than the first month’s policy premium, it’s definitely a red flag. You should ask yourself, “why am I pre-paying for the policy if I haven’t even started Medicare?”
To be clear, let me explain the Medicare premiums you will be paying and when they are to be paid.
Medicare Part B Premium
Social Security (who administers Medicare) will bill you for Part B premiums directly if you are not already drawing Social Security. If you’re not drawing Social Security, sometimes the first bill from Medicare is more or less than a full quarter, but the second billing statement should reflect 3 months of your Part B premium.
Medicare Advantage, supplement, and Medicare Part D Premiums
Like Medicare Part B, you should also not be paying these premiums until a few days to a few weeks before your Medicare starts.
I am not sure what is going with this new Medicare trap, so be careful if people ask you to pay your Medicare premiums upfront.
I recommend that you don’t pre-pay these premiums upfront, especially since most premiums are not due until a few days to a few weeks before joining Medicare.
Again, being asked to pre-pay several months premiums upfront is NOT normal, and I want you to be careful.
