How should I reflect Medicare Part B premiums paid by a post-retirement health and welfare benefit fund?
My wife and I are eligible for post-retirement medical benefits arising from her employment. Once we are both on Medicare (at age 65), all of our Part B and other medical insurance premiums will be covered by the (then) former employer's plan.
ESPlanner automatically calculates the Part B premiums, which is a great feature, especially given that the premiums can increase based on income.
My question is how should I account for the Part B premiums being paid for by the retirement plan?
My first thought is to make an entry in the "Will the Medicare Part B Premium be changed?" field.
Of course, I need to consider whether the arrangement providing this benefit may change in the future. The conservative approach might be to leave the Part B premiums as calculated and enjoy the excess money should the arrangement stand.
Thank you.
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Comments
dan royer
Thu, 02/04/2016 - 08:05
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I think I might just add a
I think I might just add a series of "Special Receipts" to account for the fact that you have money coming in to pay for those amounts.
Burt Peterson
Thu, 02/04/2016 - 15:40
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I thought of that, too, Dan.
I thought of that, too, Dan.
The concern is that the amount of those Special Receipts could diverge from the premiums calculated by the program due to changes in income levels.
Maybe do a -100% change in premiums in the assumptions in the year that this happens for us.
dan royer
Thu, 02/04/2016 - 16:09
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Hadn't thought of that, but
Hadn't thought of that, but yes, that works. -100% will eliminate the premium. If there's a tax consequence of you receiving this premium from your employer, then this method will miss that since you won't be recording any income. But you could enter a receipt and an expense for each year to capture the taxes if that's an issue.