Medicare premium to increase 13% in 2006

As expected, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced an increase in the premium senior citizens will pay for their health care benefits. The basic premium will rise 13 percent to $88.50 a month. The combined premium, including the prescription drug benefit scheduled to go into effect in January, will average $132 a month.

The seemingly modest $10-a-month increase is in reality a political hot potato. It's drawing attention both to massive variation in Medicare costs in different parts of the country and what Democrats say are "overpayments" to HMOs. Meanwhile, physicians face a proposed 4.4 percent cut to their reimbursement rates.

- see this story from The New York Times