Between the premium freeze for most Medicare beneficiaries as a result of there being no Social Security COLA in 2016 and the “Doc Fix,” higher income beneficiaries are taking a real hit on Part B and D premiums. Â For a couple we are talking thousands of dollars more each year.
But that doesn’t mean the majority of Medicare recipients are home free. Medicare costs are rising and so will premiums … for everyone.
Obamacare did not make things better for Medicare.
From The Tax Guy Marketwatch.com
Doc Fix’ legislation made costly changes
In April of this year, the Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act became law. The legislation is commonly called the Doc Fix because it made permanent adjustments to how physicians are paid for treating Medicare patients. In the past, physician payment cuts were scheduled to occur each year and were then postponed to the following year as a budget gimmick. This happened year after year. The Doc Fix brought a halt to the gimmickry. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that the Doc Fix will increase the Medicare Part B and Part D premium surcharges that many higher-income individuals must pay, starting in 2018. The increased surcharges will affect singles with 2016 MAGI between $133,501 and $214,000 and married joint-filing couples with 2016 MAGI between $267,001 and $428,000. It is estimated that the higher surcharges will cost the average affected individual about $1,000 per year and the average affected married couple about $2,000 per year.
More bad news: due to the joint effects of inflation and the Doc Fix’s changes to physician payment schedules, Medicare Part B premiums will also increase for individuals whose incomes are not high enough to be affected by the premium surcharges. As mentioned near the beginning of this article, the basic Part B monthly premium for 2015 is $104.90. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the basic premium will rise to $181 in 2025.
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