On Monday November 2, 2015, President Obama signed into law the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. As reported in last week’s CMA Alert, this wide-ranging budget agreement includes provisions that will mitigate, but not eliminate, Part B premium increases for some and Part B deductible increases for all.
In short, the Budget Act will keep 2016 Part B premiums for those who are not “held harmless” – roughly 30% of the Medicare population – to approximately $120 per month. Similarly, the Act will keep the 2016 Part B deductible for everyone to roughly $167 per year. Absent this Congressional action, these figures would have been significantly higher. The costs of keeping these amounts down will be repaid by beneficiaries over a number of years through an addition, or surcharge, to their monthly Part B premiums. For more details, see last week’s CMA Alert.
The exact figures remain estimates since the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has not yet released the final 2016 Part A and B premium, copay and deductible amounts.
11/4/2015 – D. Lipschutz