What Is Medicare Easy Pay?

Medicare Easy Pay is a free, digital payment option that allows you to have your monthly Original Medicare premiums transferred directly from your bank account. Once you set it up, the payments are delivered to Medicare on time each month.

Anyone who gets a monthly bill from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services can sign up anytime for Medicare Easy Pay.

Medicare Easy Pay is only available for Original Medicare — Medicare Part A and Part B.

You will need to talk with your plan administrator to see if your Medicare Advantage plan, Part D prescription drug plan or Medigap policy has its own form of automatic payment option.

If you receive a bill from the Railroad Retirement Board, you will need to mail in your payment.

You must fill out and mail in a form to sign up for Medicare Easy Pay.

The Authorization Agreement for Preauthorized Payments form is available on the Medicare website. It is available in both English and Spanish.

It usually takes Medicare six to eight weeks to process your Easy Pay authorization form. If there’s a problem, Medicare will contact you through the mail explaining the problem.

Once your Medicare Easy Pay takes effect, the monthly premium payment will usually be deducted from your account on the 20th of each month. Your bank statement will list it as an Automated Clearing House (ACH) transaction.

You’ll also receive a monthly statement showing that the premium amount has been deducted from your account. It will clearly state, “This is not a bill.” You should continue paying your monthly premium until you’re notified that Medicare Easy Pay takes effect.

If you want to change your Medicare Easy Pay option to a different bank account, or cancel it altogether, you’ll need to fill out a new authorization form. It’s the same form as the first one you filled out. You’ll need to specify the change you want to make.

If you change your lending institution or bank, you can switch Easy Pay over to your new institution by logging into your Medicare account. Under “My Premiums,” there is an option to make changes to your Easy Pay. This includes switching it over to a different bank account.

Easy Pay can take six to eight weeks to switch over to your new account. Any bills you receive in the interim may be mailed directly to you. They also may get charged to your old account if it is still active.

You can pay your bill by check through the mail at the address Medicare provides you. But your personal information and money is not as secure as paying electronically.

There are two other ways to pay your monthly premiums for Original Medicare electronically — through your account or through your bank’s online bill payment service.

If you set up recurring payments, be sure to make sure they are timed to arrive ahead of the monthly deadline for Medicare to receive them.