Julie Hilbert...

SENIOR MOMENT UPDATE Part B Premiums and Deductibles for 2013 • Part B premium for most people will be $104.90 per month. • Medicare Part A Premium: Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some home health care. Only about 1 percent of people with Medicare pay a premium for Part A services—you need to have paid Medicare payroll taxes for 40 quarters of employment or be married to someone who did. For those few affected, the 2013 Part A premium is decreasing to $441, down from $451 in 2012. • Medicare Part A Deductible: This deductible is the cost to people with Medicare for up to 60 days of Medicare-covered inpatient services in the hospitals for each benefit period (a benefit period starts the day a patient is admitted and ends when the patient has been out of the hospital for 60 days in a row.) This will increase to $1,184 in 2013, up from $1156 this year (an increase of 2.4%). • Medicare Part B Deductible: The deductible will increase to $147 in 2013, from $140. This is still $15 below the deductible in 2011. • Income-related Adjustments: People with Medicare who report 2011income above $85,000 a year ($170,000 filing jointly) are legally responsible to cover a larger portion of the cost of their coverage. These premium adjustments range from $42.00 to $230.80 a month for Medicare Part B.