Why am I paying more for my 2025 Medicare Part D premium?

Dear Toni: In December 2016, my husband Gary and I left my employer’s benefits and enrolled in Medicare Part B with a supplement and Part D prescription drug plan that began on Jan. 1, 2017.

The 2024 Medicare annual enrollment period is the only year that we have changed from the original Part D plan that we enrolled in for 2017, and Gary and I have recently received invoices from the Part D plan. Gary’s payment for 2025 is $110.40, and mine is $344.40.

I don’t understand why we have a Part D premium when the Medicare.gov website states a $0 premium for the same Part D plan that we enrolled in for 2025.

Please explain what our Medicare Part D issue may be. — Tonya, Galveston, Texas

Dear Tonya: Here’s what you and Gary should do to solve your Medicare Part D issue:

■ Call your old Part D plan to verify if you were charged a late enrollment penalty for waiting more than 63 days to verify that you left creditable prescription drug coverage when leaving employer’s benefits in January 2017.

■ If you were charged a late enrollment period, then contact Social Security to appeal it, because you had filed Social Security forms to prove you both had employer’s benefits after turning 65 until you enrolled in Medicare.

■ If you need additional assistance, contact your local representative in Congress to assist with appealing the Part D issue.

A late enrollment penalty for Medicare Part D can be charged because:

■ You waited past 63 days, without confirming you had creditable prescription drug coverage, upon leaving company benefits and you were older than 65 years and 90 days. (Tonya, this may be your situation.)

■ Your company prescription drug benefits (not health insurance) were not “creditable” under Medicare rules.

■ You never enrolled in Medicare Part D when you enrolled in Parts A and B when you turned 65 and now want to enroll.

The rule regarding leaving employer benefits is that, once you are past 65 and leaving employer’s group coverage with a “creditable” prescription drug plan, Medicare gives you only 63 days to enroll in Part D or a Medicare Advantage plan with prescription coverage.

Tonya, your late enrollment penalty did not begin the day you both left your employer benefits, or from your Part B start date. It began from the month that you and Gary’s Medicare Part A began.

Toni King is an author and columnist on Medicare and health insurance issues. If you have a Medicare question, email info@tonisays.com or call 832-519-8664.