WASHINGTON — Good news for seniors: The government says Medicare’s basic monthly premium will rise less than expected next year, by $3.50 for most.
It could be good too for President Barack Obama and Democrats struggling for older Americans’ votes in a close 2012 election.
At $99.90 a month, the 2012 Part B premium for outpatient care will be about $7 less than projected as recently as May. The additional money most seniors will pay works out to about 10 percent of the average Social Security cost-of-living increase they’ll also be due.
Some recently enrolled younger retirees actually will pay less. They were charged $115.40 a month this year, and they’ll see that go down to $99.90.
The main reason for lower-than-expected premiums seems to be the connection between Social Security cost-of-living adjustments and Medicare. Some also cite a moderation in health care costs.
But the Obama administration is hoping seniors will take away a simpler message: Medicare is under sound management.
Older voters went for Republicans in the 2010 elections, after Obama’s health care overhaul law cut Medicare spending to help finance coverage for the uninsured. Since then, the administration has worked hard to reverse any perception that the president is steering Medicare into decline.
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius reassured seniors that they have nothing to fear from the health care law. “Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, Medicare is providing better benefits at lower cost,” she said.
Republicans weren’t buying it. A spokeswoman for Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah said the brunt of the health law’s Medicare cuts are still to come.
“More importantly,” added Antonia Ferrier, “lower Medicare premiums are being driven by lower than average Medicare spending due to the slow economy” — not the health care law. Hatch is the ranking Republican on the Senate panel overseeing Medicare.
A spokeswoman for House Ways and Means chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said premiums are more affordable because seniors on tight budgets are spending less on health care in a troubled economy.
Medicare’s Part B annual deductible, the amount beneficiaries pay before their coverage begins, also will drop next year to $140, a decrease of $22. The hospital deductible, however, will increase by $24, to $1,156, for those admitted as inpatients.
One doesn’t cancel out the other because a minority of beneficiaries are hospitalized in any given year.
AARP, the seniors lobby, reacted warily to Thursday’s announcement. Policy director David Certner said there’s still a chance Congress could cut Medicare and Social Security as part of a budget deal. “These changes would far outweigh today’s good news,” he said.
A leading nonpartisan expert on Medicare said she doubted election-year politics were behind the lower-than-expected premiums for 2012.
“Changes in premiums are obviously important to seniors, but the numbers are based on what the law requires and determined by independent actuaries rather than politics,” said Tricia Neuman of the Kaiser Family Foundation.
