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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