Medicare beneficiaries will see their Part B premiums go down for the first time in more than a decade, President Biden said during a press conference on Tuesday.
Monthly Part B premiums, which are currently set at $170.10 in 2022, will decline to $164.90 in 2023 – a $5.20 a month savings, or about $64 a year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The annual deductible for Part B will be $226, down $7 from $233 in 2022.
“It means more money in their pockets,” Biden said of the millions of seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare. Biden was at a press conference discussing changes to Medicare under the Inflation Reduction Act passed in August.
The decrease can be attributed to previously higher estimated projections for spending on Part B services and a new Alzheimer’s drug called Aduhelm, CMS said. The overestimate led to a larger reserve in the Part B account, which the government passed on to cut any premium increase for beneficiaries, the agency said.
Medicare Part B covers medical services, such as doctor and outpatient hospital visits, certain medical equipment and other needs not covered by Part A, which is hospital inpatient coverage. Part B premiums depend on beneficiaries’ modified adjusted gross income (for example, a single taxpayer earning $97,000 or less in 2022 would pay $164.90 per month, while someone who earns between $153,000 and $183,000 a year would pay $428.60 per month, according to Medicare.gov).
Medicare’s annual enrollment period for coverage beginning in 2023 opens on Oct. 15.
