CMS quietly released a fact sheet on Part B premiums and deductibles for 2011 a couple days after Election Day and the release of the 2011 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule. Both rates will be going up next year.
The Part B deductible will be $162, a 4.5% increase from the $155 deductible in 2010.
The standard premium will be $115.40, a 4.4% increase from the 2010 rate. Premiums are increasing "because of growth in the use of services like outpatient hospital care, home health and physician-administered drugs," CMS says. "In addition, the premium accounts for a likely Congressional action to avert a precipitous decrease in physician payments, which the Administration supports, and has occurred every year since 2003. The Administration is committed to permanent reform of the physician payment formula."
Patients who currently have the Social Security Administration withhold their Part B premium and have incomes of $85,000 or less (or $170,000 or less for joint filers) will not have an increase in their Part B premium in 2011, CMS says. So, a majority of Medicare patients will continue to pay $96.40, which has remained unchanged since 2008.