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Cost of Medicare Office Visit Rising

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From Associated Press

Senior citizens can expect at least a 12% increase in their Medicare premiums for doctor visits next year, and an even bigger increase if physician reimbursements aren’t reduced.

Richard Foster, the chief actuary at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said Friday that physicians who treated Medicare beneficiaries were scheduled to have their reimbursement rates cut 5% beginning Jan. 1. But, Foster said, he would be surprised if lawmakers allow such a cut.

“In real life, I don’t think that’s going to happen,” Foster said at a forum on Medicare at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank.

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Over the past two years, physician reimbursement rates have increased by 1.5% annually. Such an increase next year would mean a 14% to 15% increase in Medicare beneficiaries’ premiums, Foster said.

Trustees for the Social Security and Medicare program estimated in their annual report released Wednesday that Part B premiums would jump next year from $78.20 a month to $87.70 a month.

Part B, unlike the hospital insurance benefits program, is provided only to those who elect to pay the premiums.

Beneficiaries, through premiums and other fees, pay about a quarter of the expenses for supplemental insurance. Taxpayers pick up the rest.

Doctors hope for a larger reimbursement increase than 1.5%, and they have backing from some influential lobbying groups, as well as from an independent Medicare advisory commission appointed by Congress. That commission recently recommended a 2.7% increase.

The American Medical Association said it was unfair to cut payments to doctors while the cost of caring for patients increased. Some physicians will stop seeing Medicare patients if the cuts occur, the group said.

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“Without Congress’ intervention to stop scheduled cuts in physician payments, Medicare patients’ access to physician services will be in jeopardy,” said Dr. J. Edward Hill, the association’s president-elect.

Premiums for Part B increased 17% last year.

AARP Policy Director John Rother said next year’s Social Security cost-of-living increase will probably be heavily offset by the Medicare premium increase.

“This puts real pressure on the incomes of seniors, particularly those with modest income and those who get most of their income from Social Security,” Rother said. “What it means is a declining standard of living for most American retirees.”

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