Financial Planners: Help Clients Minimize IRMAA Medicare Fees

When your clients become Medicare eligible, they may accumulate a few Medicare-related questions. For example, they may not understand the income-related monthly adjusted amount (IRMAA) and how it affects their Medicare Part B and Part D (PDP) premiums.

As a financial and retirement planner, it’s important that you not only help your clients understand IRMAA but also help them save money by staying below certain thresholds that could bump them into higher-paying brackets.

What is IRMAA?

IRMAA is an extra amount that Medicare beneficiaries pay above and beyond their Medicare Part B and PDP premiums. It’s based on how much they earn (going back two years) and is determined by which bracket of income, the beneficiary falls under.

What are the 2024 IRMAA thresholds?

The Social Security Administration details its IRMAA brackets yearly and is based on how you file your taxes.  In 2024, for individuals with income at or above $103,000 of Modified Adjusted Gross Income (MAGI) will have an additional monthly fee applied to both Part B and Medicare Part D.   There are 6 income brackets topping out at $500,000+ for individuals. 

What can you do to help reduce IRMAA charges for your clients?

According to recent information from Retirement Tips, an educational blog dedicated to helping workers and retirees become more knowledgeable about retirement and financial planning, there are ways you can help your clients reduce IRMAA fees and therefore preserve more of their retirement nest egg. These include things like changing how you advise your clients regarding Roth IRA conversions, qualified charitable distributions, required minimum distributions (RMDs), etc.

There are likely additional things in the financial advising and retirement planning realms that can be done to help keep your clients from entering higher brackets and paying more in IRMAA fees. As a successful financial and retirement planner, you may already have some ideas for helping your clients in this area. After all, that’s your specialty.

Speaking of specialties, let us tell you ours, and how we can collaborate with you to help your clients. We’re Medicare BackOffice^®, a team of licensed insurance agents who specialize in Medicare health plans and are dedicated to making the insurance shopping experience less confusing and less stressful for your clients. Our agents answer Medicare questions and compare Medicare Advantage, PDP and Medicare Supplement plan options. We assess your clients’ needs and help them find solutions that fit their unique situation and budget. Essentially, Medicare BackOffice collaborates with you to help your clients navigate the Medicare maze.

Medicare BackOffice does not compete with you. We don’t do financial or retirement planning. We exist only to augment your practice by helping your clients get answers to their Medicare questions and obtain suitable solutions. It’s a win/win collaborating with us. Since we help your clients with Medicare solutions, they won’t go asking your competition for assistance in this area. With us in your court, you can focus on what you do best – financial and retirement planning. Plus, sending clients to enroll through Medicare BackOffice could pay off big in the form of referral payments.

Are you interested in partnering with Medicare BackOffice? Call 1.877.385.8083. We would love to speak with you.