Independent Insurance Agent, Maine Medicare Options, Maine
Medicare premium rates come out each fall and take effect in January. Medicare beneficiaries as a group are required to pay one-fourth the cost of running Medicare, and annual premiums are set at a figure calculated to achieve that level of revenue. In other words, Medicare beneficiaries receive a 75% subsidy for Part B, with every $1 in Part B premiums for enrollees matched by $3 in general revenues.
Although the annual premium rates aren't officially set until they are announced each fall, Medicare administrators track trends and anticipated changes and use them to formulate projections of Medicare premiums for the next several years. According to the most recent report (https://www.cms.gov/ReportsTrustFunds/downloads/tr2011.pdf) of the system's trustees, issued in May 2011, those projected premiums (as listed on page 218) are:
There was a scary email going around last year about Obamacare causing Medicare premiums to skyrocket. I did some research and found the information in that email to be completely untrue. This is how I learned about how Medicare premiums were determined. You can read more about the email and what I uncovered on my blog at: http://www.mainemedicareoptions.com/content/beware-scare-tactics-about-obamacare
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Each year Congress decides how much to charge for Medicare Part B premiums.
The premiums are not based on the CPI (consumer price index) or any other measure of inflation.
Premiums are not indexed to wages.
Premiums are not tied to changes in your Social Security benefit.
Premiums are what Congress decides to charge based on the political winds.
Although the annual premium rates aren't officially set until they are announced each fall, Medicare administrators track trends and anticipated changes and use them to formulate projections of Medicare premiums for the next several years. According to the most recent report (https://www.cms.gov/ReportsTrustFunds/downloads/tr2011.pdf) of the system's trustees, issued in May 2011, those projected premiums (as listed on page 218) are:
2014: $115.80
2015: $120.80
2016: $126.00
2017: $132.70
2018: $140.30
2019: $148.40
2020: $158.60
There was a scary email going around last year about Obamacare causing Medicare premiums to skyrocket. I did some research and found the information in that email to be completely untrue. This is how I learned about how Medicare premiums were determined. You can read more about the email and what I uncovered on my blog at: http://www.mainemedicareoptions.com/content/beware-scare-tactics-about-obamacare