Medicare Premiums to Increase for 15 Million
An old federal policy could cause more than 10 million Americans to get a higher Medicare bill next year.
A small provision in Medicare’s policy will lead to 15 million Americans facing more than 50 percent increases in their monthly premiums next year. A new bipartisan bill in the Senate would fix the problem, but its passage and how it would be funded is in the dark.
The federal government will release 2016 premiums for Medicare Part B in the next few weeks, but an increase appears to be imminent.
That’s because another entitlement program, Social Security, won’t dole out a cost-of-living-adjustment for recipients next year. It is the third time in the past 40 years that seniors won’t get an adjustment, according to an August report from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston University . . .
The decision has a huge impact on Medicare. Federal law includes a “hold-harmless” provision that limits a Medicare premium increase to the increase in an individual’s Social Security benefit, the report said. That means that if Social Security benefits are not raised, neither are Medicare premiums. (Read more from “Medicare Premiums to Increase for 15 Million” HERE)
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