Iowa is an older state. By the numbers we are 5th in percentage people over 65. Thus a potential rise in the cost of Medicare to beneficiaries could have consequences in this state.
There has been some scare mongering on this issue. Kiplinger seems to have the best most straight forward information on this hike. Looks like the hike will be announced later this month. It appears that there will be no rise in Social Security benefits due to a flat CPI on which the cost of living adjustment is based.
From Kiplinger:
The actual rates for Part B (which covers the costs of doctor visits and outpatient care) will be announced in October and take effect Jan. 1. The boost may be 15% for all participants or a whopping 52% for some, depending on whether Social Security recipients see a cost-of-living raise for 2016.
If Social Security checks are increased, everybody will pay more for Part B, bumping the monthly premium from $104.90 to $120.70 to cover higher expenses. That’s the scenario for a 15% increase in costs.
But without a raise in Social Security benefits, higher Medicare fees couldn’t be charged to most folks. So the larger increase would apply to about 30% of Medicare beneficiaries:
those who enroll in Part B in 2016,
people who don’t have their premiums deducted from Social Security payments,
individuals with annual incomes above $85,000,
and people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid
The pending sharp premium increase, reported in August by The Fiscal Times, was prompted by a strange twist in the law that effectively penalizes wealthier beneficiaries and others any time the Social Security Administration fails to approve an annual cost of living adjustment. This will be only the third time since 1975 that Social Security will not increase the cost of living benefit, simply because the Consumer Price Index used by the government has remained relatively flat.
Medicare Part B and the Social Security trust fund are intertwined, and most seniors on Medicare have their monthly premiums deducted from their Social Security checks. Because the federal law for various reasons “holds harmless” about 70 percent of Medicare recipients from premium increases to cover unexpected rising healthcare costs, the remaining 30 percent of Medicare Part B beneficiaries suffer the consequences by being made to pay higher premiums.
Two major takeaways from this issue:
1) Despite what the Consumer Price Index (CPI) says, living costs have risen quite significantly, especially for drugs which affects seniors more than other groups generally.
2) How much longer will Americans continue to settle for a crazy patchwork quilt that is our health care system. A single payer system that covers all Americans similar to all other industrialized countries is long past due. It is time for America and Americans to stand up and face the issue of taking care of our single most precious resource behind the earth itself – the health of our citizens.
We have a health care system that would not have been adequate in Revolutionary Era America. Why do we as a country accept it now? Because we are afraid that some group we hate will get something free? Single payer would be far cheaper for two simple reasons. First we would cut out a 30% middle man fee that insurance companies now get for doing basically nothing. Second we could stop the spread of disease much more quickly if all Americans would be able to access health care at the first signs of illness. Therefore less sick days that cost America dearly.
Beyond that, products made in America would not have add on the price of health care into the price of their products which would make American business more competitive in the world market.
Have you ever considered that in our current system a person who works for an insurance company and knows nothing about medicine is making decisions on what kind and how much health care you will get? Would that be how you would design a good, solid health care system?
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