Does Everyone Get the Full Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment?
The drug was initially to cost $56,000 per patient annually — a figure that the drug’s maker, Biogen, later reduced to $28,800.
Since Aduhelm is administered in outpatient settings, the cost would be borne by Part B, not Part D, the prescription drug plan. Medicare officials anticipated Aduhelm costs when they increased the standard Medicare Part B premium for 2022 by 14.5 percent, to $170.10 per month. Medicare ultimately decided to sharply limit coverage of Aduhelm but let the large Part B increase stand, citing administrative hurdles to giving enrollees a midyear rebate.
“Medicare is reducing premiums for 2023 mainly to account for lower than expected spending on Aduhelm,” said Tricia Neuman, executive director of the Medicare policy program at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
What happens in years where the Part B premium increase is larger than the COLA?
This can be a problem during times of low inflation. During the last decade, there were two years of zero COLAs and five other years when the adjustment was less than 2 percent.
Under federal law, the dollar amount of Part B premium increases cannot exceed the dollar amount of the COLA — a “hold harmless” feature that ensures net Social Security benefits do not fall. The math affects people differently, depending on their Social Security benefit amount. In years of low COLAs or high Part B increases, people with lower benefit amounts have seen their benefit payments remain flat.
Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/business/retirement/social-security-cola-medicare-impacts.html