Kerry files bill to block Medicare premium hikes
Wednesday, November 17, 2010by State House News Service
Boston Herald
Nearly 12 million seniors and people with disabilities would not see an increase in Medicare premiums next year, under legislation that U.S. Sen. John Kerry filed on Wednesday.
Kerry introduced the legislation with Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) and Robert Casey (D-Penn.) after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services this month announced the Medicare premiums for 2011.
“We have a responsibility to protect all Medicare beneficiaries from unfair premium increases,” Kerry said in a statement. “Every penny counts right now, and twelve million seniors and individuals with disabilities are depending on us to restore fairness to the Medicare system.”
While the majority of Medicare recipients will continue to pay the same $96.40 premium they have paid since 2008, about 27 percent of beneficiaries will see an increase of $225 for the year due to the limitations of “hold-harmless provision” in the current law. Most beneficiaries are protected from premium increases in years when there is no coinciding increase in Social Security benefits.
New Medicare enrollees, low-income Medicaid recipients and seniors who do not receive Social Security, however, are not protected by the law. The bill filed by Kerry would extend the hold-harmless policy to all Medicare enrollees. Similar legislation passed the House in September 2009, but has not moved in the Senate, according to Kerry.