[kabar]

I know. I receive a SS check along with my wife. Yes, our part B premiums are deducted from our SS check and we pay the higher amount because of our income level. Pretty soon the premiums will surpass my wife's total SS check and we will have to send the difference to SS.

As I indicated previously, Medicare Part B is means tested and the only entitlement program that links premiums to revenue. The prescription drug program, Part D, offers subsidies to people with low incomes as well.

[Kansas58]

Well, the truth is, the taxpayers subsidize roughly $830.00 per month of the health expenses, on average, of EVERYONE over age 65.

Those are the facts.

The standard $96.00 Part B Premium is, roughly, 25% of the average Part B expense.

Part A is 100% taxpayer subsidized.

Part D is subsidized at about more than $30.00 per month, per person on Medicare Part D.

Your premiums, for Part D alone, are related to actual expenses -—

But even AFTER your contributions to all of your premiums, deductibles, co-pays or gap coverage -—

The taxpayers are paying, on average, $1,660.00 per month, for you and your wife, together!

Yes, you earned it.

However, such government expenditures should not be carried by the young families trying to make ends meet, who have trouble paying for their own health care expenses.

It would be far smarter for the politicians to use the tax code as a way to “means test” benefits for SS and for Medicare.