What happens when my Medicare premiums are higher than my Social Security check?

You may find your benefit payments zeroed out — and that you owe money for Part B

Linda Dono,

AARP

Reviewed by

Stephen Richardson

Comments

En español

Published April 10, 2025

a social security check with an envelope and a stethescope

AARP (Getty Images, 4)

In this story

More than 100,000 affected • You’ll pay premiums • Help is available • Keep in mind

More than 100,000 people who have close to the 10-year minimum amount of work necessary to receive Social Security benefits can find themselves with a Medicare Part B premium bigger than their monthly Social Security payment.

The result? They won’t get a check.

Most people on Social Security have their Medicare Part B premiums, which are $185 a month in 2025 and cover doctor and outpatient services, subtracted from their benefit before it is deposited into their bank account.

In 2025, the lowest minimum Social Security benefit is $52.10 a month for a person who worked 11 years at low wages, what the Social Security Administration (SSA) calls a special minimum benefit. For workers with 13 years of low wages, the benefit is $161.80 — still well short of the $185 needed to cover the Part B premium.

If you don’t have a spouse or former spouse whose work record was longer and included higher pay, the Social Security Administration (SSA) relies on your job history alone to calculate benefits. About 115,000, people were in that special minimum benefit category in 2023, which is the most recent information available from the SSA, but the number of people is rebounding after the pandemic cut into a steady rise.

If my check is zero, is the rest of my Medicare Part B free?

No, and this is where you’ll have to pay very close attention to the records that SSA sends you.

Audits show problems with recordkeeping. When the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services releases the Part A and B premium information for the next year, generally in early November, the agency hands the ball back to SSA to notify you of the shortfall and bill you for the difference.

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Audits in 2016 and 2024 from SSA’s Office of the Inspector General show continuing problems in crediting the correct amounts due and paid. Recommendations to have Medicare handle the billing, as it does for others who are on Medicare but may not be collecting Social Security, have not been put into practice.

Make sure you know the correct amount of your own Social Security benefit before the premium deduction and you also know the Medicare Part B premium amount. Both change each year.

Subtract the amount of your Social Security check from the Part B premium. That should be the amount that SSA bills you for Part B. That manual bookkeeping is where a lot of errors happen, the SSA inspector general says.

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Keep your own records. If you see a problem, make sure you have bank records for the payments you’ve made and call the Social Security Administration at 800-772-1213 or make an appointment at your local Social Security office to make your case.

If you have a laptop computer or smartphone, open a My Social Security online account to monitor your benefits. Medicare has a separate online account where you can see how your Part B premium payments are being credited.

I can’t afford Part B if it's more than my check. What can I do?

To participate in one of the following programs, your present income, your accumulated assets and other available resources must be sparse. But the limits for each program can vary in each state, including the types of assets and resources that are counted.

Medicare Savings Programs, which individual states manage but get money from both state and federal governments, can help with your Part B premiums and out-of-pocket costs for both Part A and Part B if your income and assets are limited. Other programs can help with Part D prescription costs.

Dual eligible beneficiaries. If you live in one of 40 states or the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid coverage to nearly all adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, you may qualify for both Medicaid and Medicare.

Supplemental Security Income is a federal benefit program that SSA manages as a safety net for people in the greatest need. If you have little to no income or assets, you may qualify.

Keep in mind

Earn some as you can. If you are healthy enough, find a job or continue working to increase your Social Security benefit in future years. The SSA calculates your benefits on your 35 highest earnings years, so if you have fewer than that, every additional quarter you are working will count.

Officials recalculate benefits for all Social Security recipients who have reported wages for the previous year. This can especially help if you are near or at full retirement age or older.

The earnings limit if you reach full retirement age in 2025 is $62,160. Above that limit, SSA deducts $1 in benefits for every $3 you earn until the month you hit your full retirement age.

Earnings limits lift at full retirement age. If you’re younger, the agency will reduce your benefit payments by $1 for every $2 above $23,400 in 2025. In the month you reach your full retirement age and after, your benefits won’t be cut no matter how much you earn.

If you do hit those limits, the money that SSA takes back won’t be gone forever. You’ll get credit after full retirement age for the months your benefits were reduced or withheld.

You might be eligible for money from SNAP. In fiscal year 2022, 16 million adults age 50 and older who were eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) were not enrolled, according to an AARP Public Policy Institute and Mathematica study.

SNAP provides many people with financial assistance to buy food. The study found that more than half of eligible adults 50 and older who did not participate would qualify for the minimum monthly SNAP benefit, which was $20 in 2022. But 1 in 5 would be able to receive more than $300.

Eligible nonparticipants are more likely to live with others and have higher income levels than participants, the study found. Contact your SNAP state agency or click on the SNAP website for more information.

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Linda Dono is a senior executive editor for AARP. Previously, she served as a reporter and editor for USA Today, Gannett News Service and newspapers in four states, including The Cincinnati Enquirer.

Stephen Richardson is a retired New England regional communications director for the Social Security Administration and AARP consultant on Social Security benefit issues. He began his career with the agency in 1982 as a claims representative.

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