fbpx

What Does Medicare Cost?

What Does Medicare Cost?

That question just opens up a huge can of worms! Why? Because the answer is, as with all things Medicare, it depends.

Parts A and B (Original Medicare)

Let’s talk first about Parts A and B, which are Original Medicare, and forget about MedSupps/MediGap and Med Advantage for now.

Medicare cost basics flow chart
Medicare cost basics

What Does Part A (Hospitals) Cost?

Part A may be free for you, if you or your spouse worked at least 10 years while paying Medicare tax. If not, you may have to pay for it.

If you buy Part A, you’ll pay up to $471 each month in 2021. If you paid Medicare taxes for less than 30 quarters, the standard Part A premium is $471. If you paid Medicare taxes for 30-39 quarters, the standard Part A premium is $259.

As you can already see, Medicare AIN’T FREE! Even the free things you get are partly because you contributed to the system while working. But the most important thing to remember is that healthcare costs a lot of money, and Medicare helps.

orderly pushing a gurney down a hallwayThen, even if Part A is free for you, you need to think about what you’re paying if you go to the hospital- just like the insurance you had when working, you participate in the costs with deductibles, copays and coinsurance.

Keep in mind that if you get a Med Advantage or MedSupp plan, you may pay less than in Original Medicare.

With Part A, when you go to the hospital, or other covered facilities, you will pay:

  • A $1,484 deductible for each benefit period
  • During Days 1-60: $0 coinsurance for each benefit period
  • During Days 61-90: $371 coinsurance per day of each benefit period
  • During Days 91 and beyond: $742 coinsurance per each “lifetime reserve day” after day 90 for each benefit period (up to 60 days over your lifetime)
  • Beyond the lifetime reserve days, you have to pay all costs.

Hopefully, this isn’t smashing too many misconceptions, and you already knew this! If not, relax, there are solutions.

What does Part B Cost?

patient and doctor talkingThe standard Part B premium is $148.50. But, it may actually be higher if your income is high (you may have heard of IRMAA). And don’t forget there can be extra charges if you didn’t enroll in part B soon enough after you were eligible.

The part B deductible is $203. After you meet that deductible, you usually pay 20% of the Medicare-approved amount for most doctor services, outpatient therapy, and durable medical equipment. 

What Do The Other Parts of Medicare Cost?

The rest of Medicare is:

  • Part C: Medicare Advantage
  • Part D: Pharmaceutical drug coverage, for those not in Part C
  • Parts F-N: Medicare Supplements, aka MediGap

The simple answer to how much these cost is that it depends on the plan. There are 100s of Med Advantage plans in each state, and they’re all different. All the MedSupp plans are standardized, but their prices vary with the insurance carrier.

There are a couple way you can find out the Medicare cost for your specific situation:

If you’d like our help or have any questions, please reach out!