Tampa, FL (Law Firm Newswire) October 27, 2017 - Several older Americans who have health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) will miss a September 30 deadline for enrollment in Medicare Part B and, according to advocates, they will require additional time to make the change. Medicare Part B covers visits to the doctor and outpatient services.
Usually when people do not sign up for Medicare Part B upon first becoming eligible at age 65, they must pay late enrollment penalties. They will have to pay this penalty for the length of time they have Part B. The penalties also apply to those who erroneously believed that since they had health insurance through the ACA marketplaces, they did not have to enroll in Medicare.
Earlier in the year, Medicare officials made an offer to waive penalties of ACA insurance in accordance with a temporary rule change that ends September 30. Recently, many insurers and consumer health advocacy organizations requested that Medicare grant an extension of the waiver deadline to at least December 31 because they are concerned that people are unaware of the deadline.
Florida Social Security attorney David Magann states, “It would be advantageous for an extension to be in place in order to allow people to enroll in Medicare in the event they missed the deadline.”
Since the opening of the marketplaces in 2014, the objective has been to enroll people. It is unreasonable to assume that people would know the procedure to move out of the marketplace into Medicare. The waiver offer is applicable to people over age 65 who have retained their marketplace plan and to younger people who are eligible due to a disability, and opted to use marketplace plans.
Furthermore, the waiver permits Medicare beneficiaries who had previously realized their error in keeping a marketplace plan to request a decrease or removal of the penalty. Also, the waiver is only available to those who qualified for Medicare after April 1, 2013.
A Social Security representative states that the agency is processing applications from across the nation, and recommended that people ask Social Security officials for the waiver by using its official name, “time-limited equitable relief.” Because Medicare Part A hospitalization benefit is generally free, some seniors who were pleased with their marketplace plan believed in error that they were not at risk of losing anything by signing up for Part A and retaining their marketplace plan.
Others who were receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits chose to retain their marketplace coverage and drop Part B after the Social Security Administration automatically enrolled them in Medicare upon becoming eligible.
David W. Magann, P.A.
Main Office:
156 W. Robertson St.
Brandon, FL 33511
Call: (813) 657-9175
Tampa Office:
4012 Gunn Highway #165
Tampa, Florida 33618
