One of the great advantages of being a Social Security user in the United States is being able to access Medicare. Although it is true that in order to use Medicare it is mandatory to be 65 years old, it is still a great benefit. In addition, most of the services offered by Medicare are free. However, there is a part of Medicare that is not exactly free, although starting this year 2023 it will be cheaper.
Medicare Part B Premium Part B will be cheaper starting this year. At least, it will be for all of 2023. This means that those who have contracted this part will not pay part of their Social Security to enjoy these services. While Part A is totally free, Part B is also free, but not completely free.
Social Security users do not pay these bills; instead, Medicare takes the money directly from the monthly retirement check. That’s why many retirees don’t know they have a discount this year, as they will see it directly in the check.
What is the 2023 Medicare discount on Social Security?
This discount starts beginning this year and will basically be done by not deducting some of the premium part money from Medicare Part B. This does not mean that Medicare Part B will be free starting this year. Only part of the money paid up to now stops being paid.
In this sense, it is almost $5 per month that retirees who have signed up for Medicare Part B will stop paying. It is not a huge amount of money, but it is a large part if we take into account the 12 months of the year. So all Medicare users who contracted this part in the past will have a discount from now on.
COLA also improves SSA paychecks
We are not only talking about Social Security checks will be a little bit bigger because Medicare users will have a discount. To this we have to add that the COLA also increases checks in 2023. In addition, it is the largest increase in 40 years, as the COLA has increased Social Security checks to 8.7% more than they were last year.
For this reason, the largest Social Security check is now $4,558, which makes a retiree who has earned this amount a good monthly salary. If that same retiree has also contracted Medicare Premium Part B, we are looking at an interesting increase in money.
Remember that in most cases Medicare Part B has the premium option activated, so to deactivate it we must do it manually. This is in case we do not want this service.