According to the report, new Medicare beneficiaries, high-income beneficiaries and beneficiaries whose premiums are paid by Medicaid — around 27 percent of all beneficiaries — would be affected by the increases. The other 73 percent would not be affected because federal law mandates that Medicare premiums cannot increase more than increases in Social Security benefits, which will not increase for 2010, according to the report.
A bill to block the increases has already passed in the House, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius is asking the Senate to approve the bill as well in order to protect seniors from additional expenses in difficult economic times, according to the report.
Read the New York Times’ report on the Medicare premium increases.
