Yes, the SS increase is sometimes no bigger than the Medicare premium increase. But the ss increase is an increase in the ss benefit, whether or not it is canceled out by a medicare increase.
I have a elder person I know (who I think is stupid), who has canceled his medicare, all of it, to increase the final ss payment, and instead he relies 100% on the VA. I have told him there are private doctors who will take patients on the basis of accepting just what medicare will pay. I have also told him there are private elderly prescription plans that can obtain his meds as cheaply as his VA copays. Maybe he just likes the social aspect of the VA.
My Nam buddy relies totally on VA benefits.