Medicare to Raise Premiums Next Year

The Administration projected today that Medicare Part B will have to raise monthly premiums for the elderly from $88.50 to at least $98.40. This represents an 11.2 percent increase over current rates. Medicare Part B provides traditional physician services and outpatient care to beneficiaries. Although the government covers premiums for a small portion of low-income beneficiaries, the majority of the 43 million beneficiaries would bear the burden of this increase.

Karen Sloan, AARP's national coordinator for health issues reacted to this news:

"We're going on several years of repeated double-digit increases, and it's also roughly three times the rate of the Social Security (cost-of-living) increase. It puts a real squeeze, particularly on moderate-income seniors."