The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a report that recommends cost savings from lower-than-expected Medicare Part B spending be passed along to people with Medicare Part B coverage in the calculation of the 2023 Part B premium. Earlier this year, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra instructed CMS to reassess the 2022 Part B premium amount, in response to a price reduction for Aduhelm™, a prescription drug directed for use in treating Alzheimer’s disease. Although the drug received FDA approval in June 2021, it was against the advice and opposition from experts, citing data that showed that the drug wasn’t proven to work, and carries serious health and safety risks. Given the information available today, it is expected that the 2023 premium will be LOWER THAN or the SAME AS the $170.10 base premium in 2022. The final determination will be made later this fall.
At the HHS Secretary’s direction, CMS reassessed the Medicare Part B premium and recommends that the identified savings be incorporated into the Medicare Part B premium for 2023. Due to changes in the cost of Aduhelm™, the Alzheimer’s drug which was originally priced at over $56,000 annually and then dropped almost in half to $28,200 annually earlier this year, CMS recommends that the lower-than-anticipated spending in 2022 be incorporated into the 2023 Part B premium determination.
Medicare Part B covers physician services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, durable medical equipment, and certain other medical and health services not covered by Medicare Part A, which covers inpatient hospital care, surgery, skilled nursing facility care and hospice.
It is anticipated that if the rampant inflation the country is experiencing continues, that the Social Security Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) will be around 8.6% in 2023. It would be almost unprecedented for seniors to receive a Cost of Living INCREASE and NOT have a corresponding increase to their Medicare Part B premiums. Keep your fingers crossed that the government will do the right thing for our seniors!
