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The projected IRMAA premiums for 2026 start at $109,000 for a single person and $218,000 for married filing jointly.
The median household income in the US is about $83,730 (2024). And many workers pay far more for health insurance than any Medicare premium.
The median household income for those age 65 and older is around $56,680 with significant variations by race and ethnicity- several much lower – roughly a quarter of the IRMAA threshold.
And yet, many people still seem to think IRMAA income based premiums are unfair and take a variety of measures to avoid them. To be honest I think that is unfair.
The fact our income allows us to be in the IRMAA category is a blessing. I see it in the same way I see carrying any type of insurance and never using it. Be grateful
I wish more than anything we didn’t have to use Medicare – and our combined total coverage premiums are over $2,000 a month – before 2026 increases.
The issue with Aunt IRMAA is that once you hit a certain dollar amount one finds oneself kicked up into the the next much higher payment level. For example, our income was $12 above the next payment level for IRMAA triggering an additional $140 per month. If the Aunt IRMAA increase were similar to marginal tax bracket increases it would seem fair (to me). Now, I see we are nearing the next higher IRMAA level. It would be frustrating to earn a few extra dollars in income but need to pay hundreds more per year as a result.
I knew Mr Quinn wrote this before I even opened it to read!!
Yes, RDQ, IRMAA is fair — and I try to remind myself of this with each payment. Another way to make the payment easier is to imagine the cost of private insurance. Even top tier IRMAA, with Medigap and Part D thrown in, is less expensive than the COBRA coverage I purchased prior to Medicare. Plus, a tiny perk: until one collects Social Security, payments can be made by credit card to earn cash back points.
As for managing cliffs, I’ve generally found that maxing out investment returns and tax efficiency is more cost effective than worrying about IRMAA. But then, I don’t do Roth conversions.
Sadly, we don’t earn enough to pay the surcharge😞. I do agree with the complaints about the cliff. There are many cliffs in the tax code as well. As a tax preparer, I hated explaining to clients that they made $1 too much.
I have paid IRMAA premiums several times doing Roth conversions. Now that I am a widower, I will be paying IRMAA premiums every year despite doing all of those Roth conversions. My pension and SS alone make it impossible to avoid IRMAA premiums.
As others stated, I should be thankful (and I am) that I have this problem. It would have been much worse had the 2017 tax bill not been extended.