CMS announces Medicare premiums and deductibles for CY 2018

The Medicare Part A deductible for inpatient hospital services will increase by $24 in calendar year 2018, to $1,340, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced Friday. The Part A daily coinsurance amounts will be $335 for days 61-90 of hospitalization in a benefit period; $670 for lifetime reserve days; and $167.50 for days 21-100 of extended care services in a skilled nursing facility in a benefit period. The monthly Part A premium, paid by beneficiaries who have fewer than 40 quarters of Medicare-covered employment and certain people with disabilities, will increase by $9 in CY 2018, to $422. The standard monthly premium for people with Medicare Part B will be $134 for 2018, the same amount as in 2017. Some beneficiaries who were held harmless against Part B premium increases in prior years will have a Part B premium increase in 2018, but the premium increase will be offset by the increase in their Social Security benefits next year, according to CMS. In other news, the Department of Health and Human Services today announced the Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program federal medical assistance percentages for fiscal year 2019. The notice provides state and territorial FMAP percentages for Medicaid, CHIP and disaster-recovery FMAP adjustments. The FMAPs are effective Oct. 1, 2018, through Sept. 30, 2019.