Each year the Medicare Part B premium, deductible, and coinsurance rates are determined according to the Social Security Act. The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $164.90 for 2023, a decrease of $5.20 from $170.10 in 2022. The annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries is $226 in 2023, a decrease of $7 from the annual deductible of $233 in 2022.
I see this more as a political move than a practical, justified decision. If no increase was warranted, premium and deductible should remain the same. In this case the premium was lowered by taking from the Part B contingency fund.
It will have negligible benefit for individuals, but will reduce the Part B fund by about $3.5 billion in 2023. If 2024, 2025 total costs are higher than expected, premiums will have to catch-up not from the current premium, but from the lower 2023 premium.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Biden announced yesterday that the Medicare part b premium was going down for the first time in more than a decade. It was considered good news for the older folks. So yes, it is a political stunt
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In 2024 and beyond when the Medicare premium increase will take most if not all of your COLA, there will be plenty of calls for increased COLAs to cover healthcare costs. A much smarter thing would of been to keep the Medicare premium at $170.10 so, increases in future years would be less not more. CRAZY bean counters.
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The $3.5 billion is about $55.56 annually ($4.63/month) per Medicare participant. However, how much did Medicare over collected during 2022 because of the big cost error used in their 2022 premium calculations? Though I do agree the decrease decision it is mainly politically motivated.
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