![]() ![]() The typical Part B premium will decrease by $5.20 a month, trimming the standard monthly premium to $164.90. That's important because Medicare's Part B plan, which covers routine doctor visits and other outpatient care, boosted its premiums in 2022 by 14.5%, an increase that ate up much of the cost-of-living adjustment seniors received in their Social Security checks. Medicare, the health insurance plan for older Americans, last month said it would drop its premiums next year by about 3% for its Medicare Part B plan. Will medical costs eat into the 2023 COLA? There have also been several years when beneficiaries received no bump at all, such as in 20, when the COLA was 0% due to flatlining inflation during the post-financial crisis years. There are only two other years when seniors received COLAs bigger than this year's increase: 1980, when benefits got a 14.3% hike, and 1979, when benefits rose by 9.9%. That year, seniors got a benefit boost of 11.2%. was experiencing another bout of high inflation. The 8.7% hike for 2023 is the biggest since 1981, which is when the U.S. ![]() How does this year's COLA compare to prior years? It also puts less weight on medical costs, which are typically higher for older Americans. The CPI-W gives greater weight to gasoline and transportation costs, which are expenditures more common among workers who commute than retirees. Some seniors and their advocates have argued that the CPI-W doesn't accurately reflect the price pressures facing older Americans. ![]()
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