The Medicare Part B premium for 2013 has been announced as $104.50 for the vast majority of current beneficiaries, lower than the projected $9.00. Those with income based premiums will pay much more.
The Social Security COLA next year is 1.7 percent. After the Part B premium is deducted, a senior with a $1,000 monthly benefit will receive a net increase of $12, or 1.2 percent. For someone with a $2,000 monthly benefit, the net increase will be $29, or 1.45 percent.
Here is what the Medicare press release says:
These and other parts of the law will result in significant savings. We estimate that the health care law will save the average person in traditional Medicare $5,000 through 2022. Earlier this year we projected that the standard premium for Medicare Part B (which covers certain doctors’ services, outpatient care, medical supplies, and preventive services) would rise by more than $9.00 a month in 2013. Today we announced that the actual rise will be lower—$5.00—bringing 2013 Part B premiums to $104.90 a month. By law, the premium must cover a percent of Medicare’s expenses; premium increases are in line with projected cost increases. Medicare Part B premiums have gone up slowly over the past five years – an average of less than 2 percent a year, or $8.50 total.
Several other changes in 2013 include:
Medicare Part A Premium: Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some home health care. Only about 1 percent of people with Medicare pay a premium for Part A services—you need to have paid Medicare payroll taxes for 40 quarters of employment or be married to someone who did. For those few affected, the 2013 Part A premium is decreasing to $441, down from $451 in 2012.
Medicare Part A Deductible: This deductible is the cost to people with Medicare for up to 60 days of Medicare-covered inpatient services in the hospitals for each benefit period (a benefit period starts the day a patient is admitted and ends when the patient has been out of the hospital for 60 days in a row.) This will increase to $1,184 in 2013, up from $1156 this year (an increase of 2.4%).
Medicare Part B Deductible: The deductible will increase to $147 in 2013, from $140. This is still $15 below the deductible in 2011.Income-related Adjustments: People with Medicare who report 2011 income above $85,000 a year ($170,000 filing jointly) are legally responsible to cover a larger portion of the cost of their coverage. Here is a link to those new premiums in 2013.
There are also income related premiums applicable to Part D premiums.
As for the rumor that the Part B premium will be $247 in 2014, it’s just that; a rumor. Read this blog post for more details.
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