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In 2027 my and Connie’s Part D premiums will increase from $72.30 to $130.00 per month and our individual deductible will increase from $615 to $700 per year (the maximum allowed). Those new premiums do not include IRMMA extra premiums.
That’s quite a jump in out-of- pocket costs, I’ll cope, but given these premiums have nothing to do with income, such increases will be a true burden for many retirees. More consequences in retirement virtually unable to plan for.
The Inflation Reduction Act significantly increased Part D premiums by shifting more costs to insurance companies. To ease that and help avoid immediate premium increases there were premium subsides.
For 2027 officials determined “the prior subsidies as unnecessary handouts to insurers.” Of course, they are not any such handouts. They help seniors pay premiums. The same claim was made- “slashing handouts”-when reducing payments to Medicare Advantage plans). I wonder if decision makers understand the concept of insurance? No matter…
I could go into the political ideology of this, but my HD lips are sealed. But think of the logic.
Insurance has a real cost, let’s say $100. Party A pays $40 and Person B pays $60. Party A decides it no longer wants to pay $40 determining it is a “handout” so drops to $20. The real cost still exists, insurance companies must cover costs, so Person B now pays $80. In this case there are about 65 million Persons B.
Shopping plans won’t do much good; the cause of most increases is not because of underlying costs, but because laws and political decisions have simply shifted costs and the insured population will pick up the different.
For some reason the thinking is, don’t send money to insurance companies because they are ripping us off. Instead let the patients send it and government saves money.
This is an amazing smoke and mirrors strategy to find another scapegoat. I doubt most Medicare beneficiaries will understand what is actually going on. 😢🥵
Most people won’t believe this, but insurance companies are not the enemy, they don’t make excessive profits, their net profit margins are low, about the same as regulated utilities. But I guess we have to have someone else to blame.
The ironic thing is the majority of workers with employer coverage don’t even have insurance. Their employer is self-insured and the company on their ID “insurance” card just processes claims for a fee and has no risk for claim payments.
We have a preferred stand alone Plan D for our drug coverage and, like your plan, our current plan premium will increase in 2027 over 70% compared with our 2026 premiums primarily because of the prior subsidies ending.
After 10/15/2026 I will do my annual comparison on Medicare.com of available plan costs and features with other plans available in our area for 2027. The key to our final decision of plans for 2027 will be the expected combined expense of premiums and out of pocket expenses. For those taking a high cost prescription the intuitive response to buying the plan with the lowest premium may not be the lowest overall cost decision for you. A great feature with Plan D has been you can make an informed decision annually of which Plan D is best for you. I hope that choice of plan option continues going forward.
For those under age 65 I would encourage making the maximum contribution to a health savings account (HSA) if one is available to you and to delay spending your HSA till after age 65. I did the maximum contribution part but did not wait until after 65 to spend part of my HSA balance on qualified medical expenses. I now wish I had waited. I also wish I did not have to take a high cost drug but…
My mother just got her 2027 increase notice. Going from $40/mo to over $120/mo. She’ll definitely be shopping around in open season.
A good reminder that Original Medicare beneficiaries should shop Part D plans annually for formularies, preferred pharmacies, and total out-of-pocket.
My Part D premium is increasing from $3.60 to $5.30. I can imagine that plans with better coverage, e.g., lower co-share for higher Tier drugs, have higher increases for 2027.
I wonder if Medicare Advantage plans will increase premiums (often $0) if they’re impacted by the government removing the drug plan premium subsidies.
Our Part D premium has been at $0 for several years, I will post an update after I talk to my agent in a few weeks. We too will survive an increase, but I know many people who will have difficulty. I wonder if increases will cause a significant number of people drop the insurance.
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