Nov. 10 (UPI) — Medicare Part B enrollees can expect a rise in premiums and deductibles for outpatient care in 2020.
Monthly premiums for Medicare Part B beneficiaries will rise about 7 percent to $144.60 a month in 2020, which is up $9.10 a month from $135.50 this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services statement said Friday. Annual deductibles for the Part B card holders will increase 7 percent to $198, up $13 from $185 this year.
The increase was “largely due to rising spending on physician-administered drugs,” the CMS statement said. “Those higher costs have a ripple effect and result in higher Part B premiums and deductible.”
About a month before the CMS announcement, the Social Security Administration announced it will raise recipients’ cost-of-living allowance 1.6 percent in 2020.
Still, Fred Riccardi, president of Medicare Rights Center, an affordable healthcare advocacy group, had concerns that the increase in premiums and deductibles next year would offset the Social Security raise.
“People who are really counting on that Social Security [raise] will lose some of that to this Medicare increase,” Riccardi said. “For people who live with little to no savings, any increase in Medicare premiums or drug costs is going to be a struggle.”
