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- Health Reform Law's Pre-Existing Condition Plan Kicks In (7/16/10)
- Court Again Rules That Part D Recipients Must Repay Mistaken Refunds (6/24/10)
- How Risky Is Buying a Limited-Duration Long-Term Care Insurance Policy? (6/8/10)
- Social Security Adds New Online Medicare Application (5/20/10)
- Steps to Take in Advance of Death or Disability (4/29/10)
- Investigative Report Questions Five-Star Rating System for Nursing Homes (4/28/10)
- Health Reform: What Changes Are in Store for the Elderly? (4/8/10)
- Demise of Estate Tax Could Have Serious Consequences for Spouses (3/2/10)
- Social Security Calculator Now Available to Delayed Retirees (2/23/10)
- Things To Remember At Tax Time (2/5/10)
- Congress Lets Estate Tax Expire, But May Act Retroactively (1/12/10)
- Pre-Paid Funeral Plans: Buyer Beware (1/6/10)
- End Of Year Tax Planning Considerations (12/8/09)
- Bank Pays Price for Refusing to Honor Request Made Under a Power of Attorney (12/8/09)
- No Change In Medicaid Spousal Impoverishment Standards for 2010 (11/12/09)
- Switching Medicare Plans If You Move (10/28/09)
- IRS Issues Long-Term Care Premium Deductibility Limits for 2010 (10/19/09)
- New Web Site Promotes Senior Volunteer Opportunities (8/28/09)
- SSA Agrees to Stop Suspending Benefits Based on Existence of Arrest Warrant (8/26/09)
- Useful Financial, Retirement and Personal Calculators Available on the Web (7/30/09)
- Getting Cash From a Life Insurance Policy If You Are Terminally Ill (7/27/09)
- Accounting for Gifts and Loans to Children in Your Estate Plan (6/23/09)
- Requiring Adult Children to Pay for Aging Parents (6/23/09)
- You May Be Able to Claim Social Security Benefits Now and Claim More Later (6/23/09)
- Don't Fall for the 'Certified Copy of Your Deed' Swindle (6/15/09)
- Be Aware Of The Dangers Of Joint Accounts (6/1/09)
- Nearly Two-Thirds Face Risky Retirement Due to Long-Term Care Costs (5/19/09)
- Financial Downturn Coupled With Changing Estate Tax Rules Mean It's Time to Review Your Estate Plan (4/20/09)
- What The Stimulus Bill Means For The Elderly (3/6/09)
- Do You Have The Right Fiduciary? (2/24/09)
- Retirement Home Can Force Resident to Move to Higher Level of Care (2/18/09)
- New Tax Break Helps Surviving Spouse (4/3/08)
- 10 Million Boomers Will Develop Alzheimer's, Report Predicts (3/21/08)
- Why Not Just Use an Off-the-Shelf Power of Attorney Form? (2/28/08)
- Preventing A Will Contest (1/18/08)
- Why Do Married Men Claim Social Security Benefits So Early? (11/6/07)
- New Medicare Premiums (10/5/07)
- What is Required of an Executor? (8/20/07)
- Should You Sign a Nursing Home Admission Agreement? (7/3/07)
- Charitable Gift Annuities (6/4/07)
- How to Choose a Nursing Home (4/10/07)
- Medicaid Recovery of Home Catches Many Families by Surprise (1/5/07)
- Coordinating Medicare and Employer Coverage (12/26/06)
- When Should You Take Your Social Security Retirement Benefits? (10/6/06)
- How to Reduce Long-Term Care Insurance Costs (8/1/06)
New Medicare Premium, Deductible, and Coinsurance Charges for 2008
Last Updated: 10/5/2007
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the new Medicare premiums, deductibles, and coinsurances. The standard Medicare Part B premium is increasing by 3.1 percent to $96.40 a month, the smallest increase since 2001.
The increase is lower than previously expected in part due to the correction of an accounting error. Money for certain hospice benefits had been inadvertently drawn from the Part B trust fund rather than the fund that pays hospital costs. In addition, the lower premium assumes that physicians will take a 10 percent cut in their reimbursement rates. It is expected that Congress will act to offset some of or all of that pay cut, meaning that future-year premiums will reflect the additional expense.
Here are all the new Medicare figures:
- Part B premium: $96.40/month (was $93.50)
- Part B deductible: $135 (was $131)
- Part A deductible: $1,024 (was $992)
- Co-payment for hospital stay days 61-90: $256/day (was $248)
- Co-payment for hospital stay days 91 and beyond: $512/day (was $496)
- Skilled nursing facility co-payment, days 21-100: $128/day (was $124)
As directed by the 2003 Medicare law, for the first time, higher income beneficiaries will pay higher Part B premiums. Following are the higher premium rates:
- Individuals with annual incomes between $82,000 and $102,000 and married couples with annual incomes between $164,000 and $204,000 in 2008 will pay a monthly premium of $122.20.
- Individuals with annual incomes between $102,000 and $153,000 and married couples with annual incomes between $204,000 and $306,000 in 2008 will pay a monthly premium of $160.90.
- Individuals with annual incomes between $153,000 and $205,000 and married couples with annual incomes between $306,000 and $410,000 in 2008 will pay a monthly premium of $199.70.
- Individuals with annual incomes of $205,000 or more and married couples with annual incomes of $410,000 or more in 2008 will pay a monthly premium of $238.40.
Rates differ for beneficiaries who are married but file a separate tax return from their spouse:
- Those with incomes between $82,000 and $123,000 will pay a monthly premium of $199.70.
- Those with incomes greater than $123,000 will pay a monthly premium of $238.40.