The remaining 30% of beneficiaries thus must make up for the higher costs of the Medicare system by paying higher premiums based on their income. But the Houses leadership crisis could prove to be an obstacle. Gasoline prices, in particular, have declined sharply, holding down overall prices in the economy.
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Social Security benefits may not be increasing but millions of Medicare recipients could see their healthcare premiums skyrocket in 2016.
You could instead get a supplemental prescription drug plan. Those not protected include higher income beneficiaries subject to an income-adjusted Part B premium and beneficiaries newly entitled to Part B in 2016.
The decision will affect more than 70 million people, more than one-fifth of the population.
At the end of 2010, when it became clear there would be no COLA again in 2011, Obama and congressional Democrats tried to send Social Security beneficiaries another $250 payment, but congressional Republicans blocked the measure. The objective of this hold harmless provision is to prevent a reduction in Social Security benefits.
Part B premium payments fund 25 percent of the program’s costs, the other 75 percent comes from the government’s general revenues, according to the Center for Retirement Research. Ron Wyden of Oregon, have introduced legislation that would freeze Medicare’s Part B premium and deductible for 2016, but its prospects are uncertain. “For tens of millions of people this has a devastating impact on the long-term adequacy of their benefits”, he says. Their costs are paid by state Medicaid programs, putting pressure on state budgets. Health care costs rose 6.1 percent.
In the absence of legislative action, the White House faces a choice between two politically perilous options. That’s the biggest increase since 2009.
The government typically announces the coming year’s Medicare premiums in the beginning of October, though they have not done so yet.
Another creates an imbalance in Medicare Part B premiums. Turmoil in Republican leadership in Congress has inhibited a solution.
“We need to do something sooner rather than later on a bipartisan basis”, he said. She said you can’t rely on that revenue alone.
For many other seniors, the stagnant benefits check will simply mean a lifestyle with even fewer frills.
Mr. Thompson said he was puzzled. “If we use that, then the seniors would be getting the cost of living increase they deserve”, Grayson said. Inflation, measured by the CPI-W, has to raise above last year’s inflation rate to trigger a COLA; instead, inflation decreased 0.6 percent. Retirees who want to return to work are a reliable resource, since they already know the ropes.
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“If accurate inflation protection for seniors is truly our goal, Congress needs to adopt a fully developed CPI for the elderly”, Richtman said in a statement.
