Medicare Part A (Hospital Insurance) Costs

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Monthly premium:

 

 Usually $0 if you or your spouse paid Medicare taxes while working for a certain amount of time (usually 10 years or 40 work quarters). If you get Medicare earlier than 65, you won’t pay a Part A premium. This is sometimes called “premium-free Part A.” 

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If you don’t qualify for premium-free Part A, you might be able to buy it. Each month, you’ll pay a premium of either:

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• $278 if you paid Medicare taxes for 30‒39 work quarters

• $505 if you paid Medicare taxes for less than 30 work quarters

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Part A late enrollment penalty: If you don’t buy it when you’re first eligible for Medicare (usually when you turn 65), your monthly premium may go up 10%. You’ll have to pay the penalty for twice the number of years you didn’t sign up.

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Part A costs If you have Original Medicare 

Part A Deductible $1,632 for each benefit period, before Original Medicare starts to pay.

There’s no limit to the number of benefit periods you can have in a year. This means that you may pay the deductible more than once in a year.

 

Inpatient Hospital Stay Days 1–60: $0 after you meet your Part A deductible.

Days 61–90: A $408 coinsurance amount each day.

 After day 90: An $816 coinsurance amount each day while using your 60 lifetime reserve days.

After you use all your lifetime reserve days, you pay all costs.

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Medicare Part B ( Medical Insurance ) Costs

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Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) Costs Monthly premium: The standard Part B premium amount in 2024 is $174.70.

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Most people pay the standard Part B premium amount. If your modified adjusted gross income as reported on your Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax return from 2 years ago is above a certain amount, you may pay an Income Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA)/

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Late enrollment penalty: In most cases, if you don't sign up for Part B when you're first eligible, you have to pay a late enrollment penalty for as long as you have Part B. Your monthly Part B premium may go up 10% for each full 12 months in the period that you could’ve had Part B, but didn’t sign up. You may also pay a higher premium depending on your income. Also, you may have to wait until the General Enrollment Period (from January 1–March 31) to enroll in Part B. Coverage starts the month after you sign up.

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Part B Annual Deductible: $240, before Original Medicare starts to pay. You pay this deductible once each year.

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General Costs for Services (coinsurance):  Usually 20% of the cost for each Medicare-covered service or item after you’ve met your deductible (and as long as your doctor or health care provider accepts the Medicare-approved amount as full payment—called “accepting assignment”) for these:

• Most doctor services (including most doctor services while you're a hospital inpatient)

• Outpatient therapy

• Durable medical equipment (DME )​

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In Summary 

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You can see that getting charged 20% for most of the things you are going to do can get rather expensive , rather quickly. 

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This is why I always like to mention other options to supplement that 20%. We can do this with either a Medicare Supplement or a Medicare Advantage Plan. 

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