•October 28, 2015•

By Trudy Lieberman
Rural Health News Service

The last couple of weeks have brought unexpected and unwelcome news to millions of seniors and disabled people on Medicare. Their already high out-of-pocket costs are going to get higher. For some, premiums for Medicare Part B coverage that pays for doctor and outpatient services will go up as much as 52 percent. For everyone Part D premiums, which cover drug benefits, will increase an average of 13 percent, and everyone will see their annual Part B deductible rise from $147 to $223.

These are not trivial amounts considering that half of all people on Medicare are living on annual incomes of $24,150 or less. In 2010 about 7 million people covered by the program lacked supplemental insurance such as Medigap policies, which cover what Medicare doesn’t. By 2013 the number of people without the additional coverage had more than doubled, most likely because they couldn’t afford to buy it.

What’s going on here? Weren’t Medicare’s costs supposed to go down thanks to the Affordable Care Act?

These increases have nothing to do with Obamacare and everything to do with the laws governing Medicare and Social Security.

Each year the Secretary of Health and Human Services examines the spending for Part B services which actually has risen this past year. By law premiums paid by everyone on Medicare must cover 25 percent of the program’s cost. (General tax revenues cover 75 percent.) And each year the Social Security Administration determines the cost-of-living increases (COLA) for seniors based on the Consumer Price Index. There will be no increase for the coming year.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.