Medicare premium increase for 2013 lower than expected
Posted on 16 November 2012
By Mark Miller
Permanent URL of this article: http://retirementrevised.com/money/medicare-premium-increase-for-2013-lower-than-expected
The rising cost of Medicare premiums will take a bigger bite out of seniors’ wallets next year – but the amount will smaller than was predicted by a federal government forecast earlier this year.
The monthly premium for Medicare Part B (outpatient services) will jump five percent in 2013 to $104.90, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced today. The increase — which amounts to $5 instead of the $9 which had been predicted by the trustees of the medicare program — will consume part of the already-small Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year for middle class recipients.
A $5 increase in premiums may not sound like a big deal. But it comes at a time when Washington is gearing up for fiscal cliff negotiations that could lead to further squeezes on seniors in the form of more Medicare cost-shifting or smaller Social Security COLAs.
