2019 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums, Deductibles, and Copays

On October 12, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the 2019 premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs.

Medicare Part B Premiums/Deductibles

Medicare Part B covers physician services, outpatient hospital services, certain home health services, durable medical equipment, and certain other medical and health services not covered by Medicare Part A.

The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $135.50 for 2019, an increase of $1.50 from $134 in 2018. An estimated 2 million Medicare beneficiaries (about 3.5%) will pay less than the full Part B standard monthly premium amount in 2019 due to the statutory hold harmless provision, which limits certain beneficiaries’ increase in their Part B premium to be no greater than the increase in their Social Security benefits. The annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries is $185 in 2019, an increase of $2 from the annual deductible $183 in 2018. Premiums and deductibles for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug plans are already finalized and are unaffected by this announcement.

Since 2007, a beneficiary’s Part B monthly premium is based on his or her income. These income-related monthly adjustment amounts (IRMAA) affect roughly 5 percent of people with Medicare Part B. The total premiums for high income beneficiaries for 2019 are shown in the following table:

Medicare A & B Premiums, Deductibles, Copays 2019

Part A (hospital)	Beneficiary pays:
Hospital Deductible	$1,364/benefit period
Hospital Copay	$341/day for days 61-90
	$682/day for days 91-150
Skilled Nursing Facil Copay	$170.50/day for days 21-100
Part A Premium	$437/month for those with fewer than 30 quarters of Medicare-covered employment
	$240/month for those with 30-39 quarters of Medicare-covered employment
Part B (doctor, outpatient services, etc.)	Beneficiary pays:
Annual Deductible	$185
Part B Premium for those with incomes below $85,000 or $170,000 married couple	$135.50/month – for those beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare prior to 2016, whose premium is taken out of their monthly Social Security benefit
Most covered Part B services	20%

Marriott's huge data breach

It’s happened again – a massive data breach of personal information we all want to keep confidential but evidently can’t.

Marriott International has disclosed that around 500 million customer records worldwide have been hacked over a four-year period. That occurred in their subsidiary Starwood hotel chains.

These hackers found more than names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, and dates of birth. They found passport numbers and loyalty program data too. Encrypted credit card numbers were also stolen.

Learning from Target’s and Expedia’s loss of huge amounts of data in this way, Marriott is contacting by email those who have been affected if the email is on file.

They have also established a call center and website at https://answers.kroll.com/.

Further, those affected by the breach will have a year’s fraud monitoring service paid for by Marriott. The sign-up for the service is at the website shown above.

Marriott said it will not ask customers to provide their password by phone or email and told guests to stay vigilant against phishing attempts in the wake of the data breach.

The hackers didn’t do all this work for nothing, so checking your credit card statements closely is another way to do your part.