House leaders proposed Friday to charge wealthy Medicare beneficiaries up to 15 percent more to pay for legislation to eliminate a flawed Medicare formula that has annually threatened to drastically cut payments to doctors.
The proposed higher bills wouldn’t go into effect until 2018 and only affect about 2 percent of the Medicare population, according to leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee and House Ways and Means Committee.
Starting in 2018, beneficiaries in Part B and D who have income between $133,500 and $160,000 ($267,000 to $320,000 for a couple) would pay 65 percent of their premium instead of the current rate of 50 percent. Medicare beneficiaries who make between $160,000 and $214,000 ($320,000 to $428,000 for a couple) would see an increase from 65 percent to 75 percent.
The package being considered currently also would include reauthorizing a program that offers health insurance to more than 10 million children. It also would include two bills to strengthen Medicare’s ability to fight fraud and modifies the program’s medical equipment acquisition program.
The lawmakers detailed other ways that the bill could save money, including enabling the Internal Revenue Service to impose a higher levy on tax delinquent Medicare service providers.
The savings may not be enough to pay for the whole package, which earlier was reported to cost about $210 billion
Republicans are starting to get pushback from conservative groups because the legislation would add to the deficit.
“Any unpaid-for legislation would have a fiscal impact on America’s seniors as well as the federal budget,” Chris Jacobs, policy director for the conservative think tank America Next, wrote in the Wall Street Journal.
Lawmakers have until March 31 to pass legislation or Medicare payments to doctors would be cut by more than 20 percent and insurance coverage would expire for millions of children.
