Medicare Easy Pay Makes It Easier to Make Premium Payments on Time

Medicare is a federal health insurance program that does not cover 100% of health care costs, which is why many enrollees choose to purchase a Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplemental plan to help lower out-of-pocket costs.

To be eligible for an SERS Medicare Advantage plan, you must be enrolled in Medicare Part B and pay a monthly Part B premium to Medicare. This premium is not included in your monthly SERS health care premium and must be paid separately to Medicare.  The same holds true for any individual Medicare Advantage or Supplement plan.

Each year, many enrollees lose their Medicare Part B coverage because they forget to pay their premium to Medicare for even one month.

If you receive a monthly Social Security check or Railroad Retirement Board pension, your Part B premium is automatically deducted from your benefit. If not, you will be billed for three months of Part B premiums at a time.

To avoid a lapse in coverage, your best option is to sign up for Medicare Easy Pay.

Medicare Easy Pay is a free payment service that deducts the Part B premium from your checking or savings account each month. There are two ways to sign up:

• Log in to or create a Medicare account – Select “My Premiums” and then “Sign Up” to complete a short, online form.
• Fill out and mail a paper form – Print the authorization form and return it to:

Medicare Premium Collection Center
P.O. Box 979098
St. Louis, MO 63197-9000

It will take six to eight weeks to get your Medicare Easy Pay set up. Medicare will notify you when the automatic deductions begin. Keep making your quarterly payment as usual until you are notified that Medicare Easy Pay is starting. You also can make a one-time payment through your Medicare account, or use your bank’s online bill payment service.

Visit Medicare’s website or call Medicare at 1-800-633-4227 for more information.