As expected, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an increase in the premium senior citizens will pay for their health care benefits. The basic premium will rise 13 percent to $88.50 a month. The combined premium, including the prescription drug benefit scheduled to go into effect in January, will average $132 a month.
The seemingly modest $10-a-month increase is in reality a political hot potato. It's drawing attention both to massive variation in Medicare costs in different parts of the country and what Democrats say are "overpayments" to HMOs. Meanwhile, physicians face a proposed 4.4 percent cut to their reimbursement rates.
- see this story from The New York Times