Ritter Insurance Marketing

CQ Today reports that a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis found that “new Social Security recipients and upper-income seniors could face a steep increase in their monthly Medicare premiums for the next two years.” Also, “millions more will see their finances squeezed if their premiums for Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage go up during that period.” The study “points out that Social Security and Medicare trustees project no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to Social Security benefits in 2010 and 2011, and only a tiny one in 2012. The COLA is pegged to an inflation index, and the economic recession has erased increases in the relevant index.” However, for the next two years, “monthly premiums for Medicare Part B coverage will increase sharply under existing law. … The 2009 premium for most beneficiaries is $96.40 per month.”