WP: Wealthier Seniors to Pay Higher Medicare Premiums

[DeepModem Mom]

Wealthier Seniors to Pay Higher Medicare Premiums
By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Most people will have to pay 5.6 percent more for basic Medicare coverage next year, but more affluent beneficiaries can expect increases as high as 83.2 percent as the federal government for the first time requires wealthier seniors to pay higher premiums, Medicare officials announced today.

The standard monthly premium for Part B -- which covers doctors' visits, diagnostic tests and outpatient hospital care -- will rise to $93.50, up from $88.50 this year, said Mark McClellan, head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Individuals with an annual income of more than $80,000 (or more than $160,000 for a married couple) will face monthly premiums of $106 to $162.10, depending on income, he said.

About 1.5 million of the 42 million Americans enrolled in the program would have to pay the new income-based premiums, mandated by Congress as part of the 2003 law that created the Medicare drug benefit.

McClellan said the new means-tested premiums would save Medicare $7.7 billion during the next five years and $20 billion during the next 10, helping to shore up a program whose troubled finances are threatened by a growing numbers of beneficiaries and rising health care costs.

And even at the higher rates, Medicare remains a good deal, he said. The richest beneficiaries, those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year, would pay just under $2,000 a year in premiums, while receiving an average of $4,300 a year in benefits....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/12/AR2006091201029.html

[ProudDad]

1. It's still not enough

Those of us who have to live on Soc. Sec. payments alone should get Medicare FREE! We also shouldn't have to wait until 65 to collect. I'm 62 and have to try to squeeze out 3 more years of health before I can get medical coverage...

Then there should be a sliding scale that would result in a progressively much larger premium for those who can obviously afford it.

I also think the cap on FICA contributions should be lifted to $1,000,000 That would take care of Social Security (and a big hunk of the bigger, Medicare financing problem) for decades to come.

[lindisfarne]

10. I agree totally. $163/month is little to someone who has an income of

$100,000 or more. Healthy middle-aged individuals couldn't buy insurance for $163/month that's as comprehensive as medicare. It would cost at least double that.

[Seabiscuit]

12. It's far more than double that.

The $163/month (the OP mentioned a high of $162.10) figure is, if I recall right now, for a married couple.

My wife and I pay about $1,200 a month for ourselves and our child for private insurance through Blue Cross. We earn more than $160K/year so perhaps we'll be charged a little more for Medicare when I retire.

[DuaneBidoux]

21. Got that right! Solving SS problems is simple: lift the cap

And means test for more affluent people. Crisis fixed.

[bluestateguy]

2. In other words, they're raising taxes on the rich

Just making sure Republicans know that.

[madfloridian]

4. They are raising it on the poorest as well.

http://www.tscl.org/Newcontent/102743.asp

[madfloridian]

3. And the poorest will be paying about 1476 a year....

Look at this chart and see if I am right.
http://www.tscl.org/Newcontent/102743.asp


More than 200,000 a year... just under $2000 a year?

Less than 80,000 a year....about 1476 in 2009.

That's fair?

And did congress vote on this or was it just passed by the Bush administration?

[madfloridian]

5. Not voted on by Congress. Not good.

"Conversations between members of Congress and TREA Senior Citizen League representatives suggest that many members are not aware of this law due to the way it was passed. Means testing for Medicare Part B was inserted into the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) drug legislation, and was not in either version of the law originally passed by the House and Senate."

http://www.tscl.org/Newcontent/102743.asp

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

15. Just how the hell was it "inserted?"

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Joe Bacon]

16. The same way all those insertions were done in the Patriot Act!

Nobody read what they were enacting!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

17. The article says it was in neither the House or Senate version

when passed. Which suggests that it showed up later.

Signing insertion by Chimp?

[doc03]

6. So if I worked hard and was lucky in my

investments in my 401k I will be penalized by paying higher medicare premiums. Yet my co-worker that squandered his money on drinking and gambling pays less. Is that fair? This year they consider $80000 as wealthy what makes people think they won't consider $40000 as wealty in a couple more years and maybe $20000 the next?

[Bozita]

7. $7.7 billion savings over 5 years equals one month of US in Iraq

Probably more than that amount in Halliburton and KBR fraud in Iraq.

[pinto]

8. In the lowest income bracket, increases are regressive.

The 80/20 split on Medicare payments for "Medicare covered costs" aside, I think the $88.50 monthly premium is doable, although above the national average. One problem I have with the planned premium increase structure is that it raises premiums about 11% per year. SSDI usually has a COLA adjustment of 2-3% per year. One (expenditures) outpaces inflation while the other (income) lags behind. As a net result it may be a significant loss of available funds for food, clothing and shelter. This is in the lowest income bracket. see: http://www.tscl.org

While the $88.50 represents about 10% of an average SSDI income, $123.40 in '09 represents close to 14% (at 3% increase in SSDI). In the private sector, personal health care costs averaged about 7.6% out-of-pocket spending. (2003 data).

Personally, I'd like to see premium increases for the lowest income bracket tied to inflation (as are SSDI payments) and an increase in the FICA withholding cap to help offset the overall costs. Fat chance in Hades, but it makes sense to me. See also:

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w5.74/DC1

Thanks for the post. Good article

[borlis]

9. I hope it goes way up for my old next door neighbors

who are staunch republicans and are loaded. He told me how well his 4000 shares of Halliburton were doing for him. They are in their 70's and his wife has had almost 30 surgeries in her lifetime so far. I am sure they both take handfuls of pills daily. :evilgrin:

[rpannier]

11. Good

If they make over 100,000 a year they should pay much higher premiums.

[Seabiscuit]

13. You know what? If I were in my 20's I'd just say fuck it and emigrate!

n/t

[peacebuzzard]

14. how does the Canadian medical system work for foreign residents?

anyone know? I have a disabled sister I care for that I am having a very hard time getting adequate custodial care for.

Just a fleeting thought.

Custodial care in the U.S. stinks and I have racked up so much in credit card debt these past few years for her, I don't know how I am going to dig us out of the mountain of debt accumulated. It is just the two of us and I travel for a living, so life is difficult to manage.

[cap]

18. very bad idea... beginning of effort to kill Medicare

Medicare like SS covers all Americans. It was set up this way to ensure buy in from all sectors of America. To make it targeted towards the poor will be the end of the system as it will not have political support for increases in premiums. Even though a millionaire doesnt need Medicare, he needs to be part of the system.

Sen. Kennedy does not support this.

[Tyler Durden]

19. Seniors grossing $200K plus shouldn't be ALLOWED to have Medicare.

I may not be on speaking terms with Mom right now, but she has always maintained that my late father's bennies and other incomes make it so she can well afford her own health insurance. She always has done so.

[FILAM23]

23. They paid into

they deserve to draw on it.
Otherwise it becomes another welfare program instead of an earned benefit.

[trof]

20. The Catch 22 "income" trap

I get a small monthly pension and Social Security. It's not enough to cover our modest living expenses. I'm fortunate to have a Rollover IRA resulting from a 401-K plan from my former employer.
Each year we draw what's needed to make up the balance of our expenses. Usually around $10,000.

Since the money went in tax-free, every nickel I withdraw counts as "income" and I pay tax on it.
OK, that's fine.

Then came Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina.
Last year I had to withdraw over $40,000 to pay for uninsurable damage and debris cleanup.
So...my "income" quadrupled last year.
This not only put us into a much higher tax bracket, it also exceeded the "income" limit for paying tax on my Social Security. For the first time, I had to pay income tax on my S/S.
And the IRA that we're depending on for the rest of our lives has taken a serious hit.

It ain't right.
:-(

[FILAM23]

22. Bad move

first step to eliminating the program by turning it into a welfare program