More Changes Coming to Medicare

Medicare beneficiaries have been through a series of changes in recent years, and more changes are coming next year.The changes aren’t all positive, so they were released quietly last Friday.

The good news are in the Part D Prescription Drug program. The deductible is being decreased to $310 for 2014. That’s a 4.6% decline. The change, the first decline in costs to Medicare beneficiaries, occurred because costs grew less than expected in the last year.

The bad news is for those in Medicare Advantage plans. The per enrollee amount the government pays to insurers offering the plans will be reduced and by more than expected. The 25% of Medicare beneficiaries who choose Advantage plans could see this pass through in the form of higher premiums, deductibles, and copayments, reduced benefits, or a combination of the two.

The standard deductible for Medicare’s drug program, called Part D, will be $310 in 2014, about 4.6 percent less than this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said in a statement. Copayments also will be reduced for the program that began in 2006.

It’s the first time Medicare recipients have received an annual reduction in out-of-pocket costs for drugs, the government said. “Historically low growth” in health-care spending for the nation’s 50 million Medicare beneficiaries also led to a 2.2 percent reduction in government payments next year to Medicare Advantage plans offered by companies including UnitedHealth Group Inc., the biggest U.S. health insurer.