Do I Need to Pay for Medicare Part B if I Choose Medicare Advantage?

Medicare. It’s a ubiquitous term that seems to indicate “free health insurance for seniors” but brings in quite a bit of confusion once you’re at that age. The long and short of it is that Medicare isn’t free health insurance for seniors. There’s some catastrophic coverage in Plan A of original Medicare. But Plan B is a totally different story. 


Do I Need to Pay for Part B if I Choose Medicare Advantage?


Yes. If you choose Medicare Advantage, you still have to pay Plan B costs. This is the medical insurance part of Medicare. Medicare Part A is hospital insurance. It’s pretty mind-blowing once you realize that Medicare has a cost. However, this cost is rather low. 


What Does Medicare Part B Cost?


According to Stephanie Apt, the standard premium for Medicare Part B in 2021 is about $148.50 a month. Of course, that can depend upon your income as well. Prices are controlled by the Social Security Act. That standard for 2022 is $171.10 per month. That is an annual cost of $2,053.12. And that’s the standard. 


You’ll pay for these costs with a deduction from your Social Security payment if you’re enrolled or through the payment method you choose. 

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Wait. Medicare Has a Premium?


Yes. Part A and Part B together is Original Medicare. Part A is offered at no cost and Part B has a premium. So, if you choose Medigap insurance, Part D, or go the alternate route of a Medicare Advantage Plan, you will be paying for Part B. That isn’t going to change in the near future so budget for it. 


Why Would I Want Medicare Advantage? 


There are plenty of advantages for Medicare Advantage, one of which is that you have one insurance card – the one from the Medicare Advantage Plan you chose. If it’s Kaiser, you have a Kaiser card etc. There is a huge level of convenience that comes with choosing Medicare Advantage and going through that one managed provider. Frankly, a lot of seniors like being in a network of providers who take that plan – not dealing with Medicare directly. 

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