“Medicare Part B Premium to Jump $3.90 a Month for 2021”

 

Medicare Part B Premium to Jump $3.90 a Month for 2021,” by Ginger Szala, ThinkAdvisor

Quote:

“Medicare Part B premiums in 2021 will increase of $3.90 a month, raising the monthly premium for Part B enrollees to $148.50 deducted from Social Security benefits, the Medicare & Medicare Services announced on Friday. The increase is lower than in 2020, which was a $9.10 increase, or 6.7%, while the 2020 cost of living adjustment was only 1.6%. Higher income individuals (those with $88,000 of income per year, married, and with a joint filing of over $176,000 income per year) are expected to see their Medicare Part B charge raised to $207.90.”

 

 

LTC Comment:

The defining difference between social insurance and welfare is that, with social insurance, premiums and benefits are the same for everyone, whereas, with welfare, premiums and benefits are based on the recipient’s level of income and assets. We used to think of Medicare as social insurance, but that has not been true for a long time. Medicare is welfare now, because lower income people pay less to get it than higher income people. The same is true for Social Security: “Social Security is welfare because there is no connection between the taxes paid and the benefits received.”