HHS Announces 2015 Medicare Premiums and Deductibles
Medicare Plan B premiums, deductibles and copays will be largely unchanged in 2015.
- Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the premiums and deductibles for Medicare programs in 2015. Revealed by secretary Sylvia Burwell, Medicare Part B premiums, copays and deductibles will largely remain the same as they did in 2014.
Medicare Part B covers physicians’ services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, durable medical equipment and other items for approximately 49 million Americans. Premiums and deductibles will remain at $104.90 and $145 respectfully. This is $125 lower over the course of the year than the Congressional Budget Office projected in 2009.
For premiums, this is the third year in a row that they will remain the same or decrease. With these charges staying the same, Social Security recipients who will receive a 1.7 percent increase in benefits, will be able to keep that money in their pocket.
Secretary Burwell said in the announcement that slower health care cost growth within Medicare since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, is the main factor into Medicare Part B monthly premiums remaining unchanged. She added that the ACA is working to improve affordability and access to quality care for seniors and people with disabilities.
“The stabilization of Part B premiums is another example of how we are containing health care costs to provide a more sustainable and affordable health delivery system. The Administration has taken important steps to improve the quality of care while keeping the cost of Medicare premiums and deductibles the same,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Marilyn Tavenner, said in the announcement. “This means even greater financial and health security for our seniors next year as their premiums will remain unchanged.”
In the press release, CMS also announced that a small number of beneficiaries who pay Medicare Part A monthly premiums, will see their bill drop $19 in 2015 to $407. This will happen for people that haven’t earned enough work quarters for premium-free. Part A covers inpatient hospital, skilled nursing facility and some home health care services. However, Part A hospital deductibles will increase by $44 to $1,260 and co-payments for other services will also increase slightly.
“Since 2007, beneficiaries with higher incomes have paid higher Part B monthly premiums,” the report reads. “These income-related monthly premium rates, which affect less than 5 percent of people with Medicare, will also remain the same as they were in 2014.”
This goes along with the fourth cost-of-living adjustment since 2009 that was made to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for more than 64 million Americans. The 1.7 percent increase, which is mentioned above, will go into effect in January 2015 and the actual amount of an individual’s increase is based on their current benefit check.
