Historical February 1990 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
There’s good and bad news about Medicare in 1990 due to repeal of Medicare Catastrophic Coverage. Unpopular financing provisions were repealed.
But benefits will be lost and premiums that Medicare beneficiaries pay for private insurance to supplement their Medicare will be higher.
The Catastrophic Health Insurance surtax was cancelled as of January 1989. Officially called a supplemental premium. the surtax would have raised most of the funds for the coverage. Medicare beneficiaries who included the surtax in computing estimated tax payments will receive refunds when they file their 1989 tax returns.
The rest of the financing was to come from higher monthly premiums for Medicare. Premiums were $4 per month higher in 1989 to help pay for Catastrophic coverage, That additional charge was cancelled as of January 1990.
The higher monthly premiums collected in 1989 will be used to pay for the catastrophic benefits that 1.1 million people received in 1989. Those premiums had been scheduled to increase to$33.90 in 1990.
With repeal the premium will be $28.60. Unfortunately, Social Security recipients won’t notice any difference in their checks for several months.
It will take Social Security until May’s checks to make the adjustment. Refunds of excess 1990 premiums will begin in June and will take about three months to complete.
The repeal legislation contains provisions related to “medigap” Insurance policies.
It requires insurance companies to rewrite medigap policies to reflect changes in Medicare coverage brought about by the repeal. Medigap policies are Medicare supplements sold by private insurance companies. Medicare has a toll-free phone number (1-800-888-1998) set up to answer questions about the changes.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, February 1990.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1990_02.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
