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October 09, 2014 at 10:20 AM
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will be reducing the monthly premium for people who buy Medicare Part A hospitalization insurance for 2015 and keeping the premium for Medicare Part B physician services and outpatient services insurance the same.
CMS announced the 2015 traditional Medicare plan rates in a pair of announcements set to appear in the Federal Register Friday.
The full monthly price of Part A coverage will fall 4.5 percent, to $407. The standard monthly price for Part B coverage will continue to be $104.90, and the deductible will continue to be $147.
A CMS actuarial analysis of the Part B premiums shows that the biggest factor helping to hold down premiums will be a sharp cut in physician fees. CMS is hoping to cut physician payments for enrollees over age 65 about 14 percent, to $65 per enrollee per month and to cut the physician fee schedule for disabled enrollees about 16 percent, to about $70 per enrollee per month.
The Medicare program serves a total of 54 million people.
