Medicare premiums to rise less than expected: How much?
(CBS/AP) Seniors expecting big Medicare hikes can breathe a sigh of relief: Premiums will rise by only $3.50 at most.
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"Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare is providing better benefits at lower cost," said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She reassured seniors that they have nothing to fear from the health care law, and said called keeping premiums in check "pretty remarkable."
The 2012 Part B premium for outpatient care will be $99.90 per month - about $7 less than projected as recently as May. The extra cash that most seniors will pay works out to about 10 percent of the average Social Security cost-of-living increase that's coming their way.
Some folks will even pay less. Younger retirees who recently enrolled were charged $115.40 a month this year, but they too will drop down to $99.90.
What's behind the lower-than expected premium prices? Some cite the relationship between Social Security cost of living adjustments (COLA) and Medicare, while others cite a moderation of health care costs.
Medicare's Part B annual deductible, the amount beneficiaries pay before their coverage begins, will also drop next year to $140 - a decrease of $22. The hospital deductible, however, will increase by $24, to $1,156, for those admitted as inpatients. One doesn't cancel out the other since a minority of beneficiaries are hospitalized in any given year.
The bottom line from the Obama administration? Medicare is under sound management.
Republicans weren't buying it.
"Lower Medicare premiums are being driven by lower than average Medicare spending due to the slow economy" - not the health care law, said added Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah - the ranking Republican on the panel overseeing Medicare.
What do retirees have to say about the news?
Senior lobby AARP reacted warily to the announcement. Policy director David Certner said there's still a chance Congress could cut Medicare and Social Security as part of a budget deal. "These changes would far outweigh today's good news," he said.
Averager Health Insurance Premiums - News
Next year s health insurance rates in Colorado are going up at the slowest pace since 2000, according to a benefits survey. ( file photo) The bad news of Colorado's average 9.4 percent hikes in health insurance premiums for next year is
"Lower Medicare premiums are being driven by lower than average Medicare spending due to the slow economy" - not the health care law, said added Antonia Ferrier, spokeswoman Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah - the ranking Republican on the panel overseeing
In 2013, employers will be compelled to disclose the value of employer-sponsored health insurance coverage to their employees on W-2 forms. Some additional changes are listed below. The new law will begin phasing in federal subsidies for brand name
"It's important to realize that though the rates have been reduced, health care costs continue to rise." The companies will now use the approved rates as many local companies begin their annual enrollment period for health insurance on Nov. 1.
Workers who average between 24 hours and 33 hours a week cannot include their spouse on the health care plan. And, as mentioned, premiums will rise for many workers, particularly smokers. The consistent rise of health care costs each year,
The Chickens Come Home to Roost for Wal-Mart « America's ...
. However, in this case that saying belongs to Wal-Mart. After endorsing Obamacare, they will now eliminate health insurance for part-time employees, and full-time employees can expect premiums to increase by as much as forty percent. Perhaps these are some of the unintended consequences of Obamacare.
While Wal-Mart denies that PPACA (aka Obamacare) was the reason for this action, all you have to do is look at the flurry of mandates coming out of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius’s office, to understand Obamacare’s impact on health insurance costs and premiums which have risen an average of nine percent this year, far more than actual health care costs. This is directly attributable to new benefits mandated by PPACA, benefits like domestic violence counseling, the morning after pill, breast feeding classes, and many more that are now required coverage for all insurers. The message in The Wall Street Journal
October 26, 2011
When Wal-Mart endorsed President Obama’s health-care plan in 2009, CEO Mike Duke said it did so “to remove the burden that is crushing America’s businesses and hampering our competitiveness in the global economy.” That doesn’t seem to be working out too well—for all Americans, and especially for Wal-Mart’s employees.
Last week the largest private U.S. employer announced that it would no longer offer health coverage to part-time workers and would sharply increase premiums for its other “associates.” Wal-Mart says the changes are a response to climbing health-care costs, not the Affordable Care Act per se, though even this is an indictment: The bill that the company claimed would help isn’t helping. But Wal-Mart’s errant political judgment is less important than what its crash benefits diet says about the future of employer-sponsored insurance.
Under the company’s new policy, new workers who put in fewer than 24 hours a week on average won’t qualify for any Wal-Mart health plan, while those under 33 hours won’t be able to add a spouse. Other premiums and deductibles will jump in 2012, some by as much as 40%.