An email being sent to seniors, warning of large increases in the Medicare Part B premium.  But is the email accurate?  Factcheck.org looked at the accusations in the email and found them all to be false.

EMAIL BEING SENT TO SENIORS:

MEDICARE PAY INCREASE:  For those of you who are on Medicare (or will be soon), read the short article below.

It is about the monthly amount of money you are going to pay into Medicare in 2011, 2012 and the huge increase you will pay in 2013. You will pay it.

Social Security:  Congress will not allow an increase in the social security COLA (cost of living adjustment). However, the per person monthly Medicare insurance premium will be increased from the 2009 premium of $96.40 to $104.20 in 2010, $120.20 for the year 2011, AND a yearly increase to a wonderful $247.00 in 2014. Thank You Obamacare!

In the meantime, Congress gave themselves a $3,000 a month Cost of Living Adjustment!

Send this to all seniors that you know.

REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER 2012

THE TRUTH:                                 

Factcheck.org investigated these claims and found:

It falsely claims “Congress gave themselves a $3,000 a month Cost of Living Adjustment,” when the truth is that Congress voted to deny itself any pay increase at all, both for 2010 and 2011.

§  It wrongly blames Congress for disallowing any cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients. It’s true there was no COLA for Social Security recipients in 2010 or in 2011, but that was due to the workings of a long-standing formula and not the result of any vote by the current Congress or the previous one. We covered this in detail in 2009 and the Social Security Administration has an explanation posted as well.

§  It claims that “those of you who are on Medicare” can thank “Obamacare” for increases in the per-person monthly Medicare premium — “to a wonderful $247.00 in 2014.” This is also false. The basic premium for Medicare Part B (which covers physician services) was indeed $96.40 in 2009. But the other numbers are all wrong. It was $110.50 last year, for example, and not $104.20 as claimed. And it is $115.40 this year, not $120.20 as claimed.

Actually, only 27 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are paying the basic rate. The rest — 73 percent — are paying less under a “hold harmless” provision triggered by the lack of a cost-of-living increase in Social Security this year or last year. Most are still paying $96.40.

Can seniors afford to pay more of their health care costs?  Here is some interesting information from the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare:

Going forward, Medicare beneficiaries are projected to lay out as much as a quarter of their income on health care in 2020, up from around a sixth now. “Some have the impression that seniors are quite wealthy and could afford more premiums,” says Tricia Neuman, director of the Medicare Policy Project at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “The numbers tell a different story.”

Median income for women over 65 now stands at roughly $15,000. (This estimate is based on a Census Bureau report showing that, in 2008, the average woman over 65 lived on $14,500.) Half earn less. That $15,000 includes income from all sources: Social Security, wages, self-employment, pensions, government assistance, and investment income. As of 2010, the Current Population Survey shows that households headed by someone over 65 reported  $31,400 in joint income.

Even relatively affluent seniors are hardly rich. Singles over 65 who earn as little as $33,000 rank among the wealthiest 20 percent. At first glance, married couples appear to be doing better: to make it into that top quintile they must be earning at least $85,000 a year. But this is in large part because in many cases one spouse is under 65 and still working. In 2008, 41 percent of senior households reported earned income. But over time, as the working partner retires, older couples are forced to live on less.

The full article can be found here: http://www.ncpssm.org/entitledtoknow/?p=2010