government
Medicare deductible and premiums to increase in 2013
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Nov. 26, 2012
Patients will pay slightly more in Medicare fees starting Jan. 1, 2013.
The Medicare deductible beneficiaries pay up-front when they obtain services will be $147 in 2013, a $7 increase from the 2012 amount but $15 below what patients had paid in 2011, acting Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner stated in a Nov. 16 blog post. The standard 2013 monthly premium also will rise by 5% to $104.90. The premium increase is expected to cost 48.1 million beneficiaries a total of an additional $2.4 billion, according to CMS.
The patient fees are lower than previous projections, said Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center in New York, in a statement. However, the costs are not inconsequential to most beneficiaries. For instance, half of Medicare patients live on incomes of $22,000 or less, and the average beneficiary spends 15% of his or her household budget on health care expenses. One in four patients incurs out-of-pocket costs through co-payments of more than $100,000 during the last five years of life.
“This harsh financial reality makes clear that any proposal to find savings in the Medicare program should not force people with Medicare to pay more for less health security,” Baker said.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/11/26/gvbf1126.htm.
