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TRICARE Contracts Won’t Be Changed In late November 2016, the Govern- ment Accountability Office denied all bid protests of TRICARE’s next round of contracts. Although the full


report is not out yet, this announce- ment allows DoD to move ahead with its plan to consolidate its existing three TRICARE regions into two: the East and West regions. The two new 2017


TRICARE contracts will be administered over five years and are worth an esti- mated $58 billion. The new con-


tracts include several changes to improve beneficiary access, quality, and safety of care. MOAA will keep


you informed of fur- ther developments.


We particularly were concerned about those who might have been threatened with loss of coverage simply because they didn’t get the word about the new enrollment requirement — thus the fi rst- year grace period. We’ll be working throughout the


year to educate MOAA members about the transition in 2018. You can help by spreading the word to your retired military and survivor friends who use TRICARE Standard.


Part B Premiums Did your entire COLA increase get wiped out?


S


eventy percent of Medicare beneficiaries didn’t see much of a Medicare Part B premium increase


for 2017. If you paid $104.90 a month in 2016, you’re likely paying around $109 monthly this year. If you paid more than that in 2016, you’re probably experiencing about another 10-percent hike for 2017. The majority of benefi ciaries didn’t see a


large fee hike because of a “hold-harmless” law that capped most people’s Part B pre- mium increase at the dollar amount of the Social Security COLA. But that protection didn’t apply for the


following groups: new Medicare enrollees in 2017 (who aren’t held harmless because they never paid the lower premium); Medi- care enrollees with incomes above $85,000 a year ($170,000 for a married couple), who already pay premiums higher than the basic $104.90; and people who are paying Medi- care premiums but don’t receive a Social Security check. Not only are these groups not held harm-


less, but the law actually requires their premiums to be raised an extra amount to cover whatever total premium amount the


32 MILITARY OFFICER FEBRUARY 2017


held-harmless groups would have been pay- ing if they hadn’t been protected. In other words, when a small or zero COLA triggers the hold-harmless provision, the three groups listed previously end up having to pay their own premium hikes — and part of their neighbors’, too. Last year, the zero-COLA meant a


52-percent increase for benefi ciaries not held harmless. MOAA members sent over 24,000 messages to the Hill, and Congress intervened to protect these groups from having to pay any share of other people’s premiums. Because there was at least a 0.3-per- cent COLA in 2016, the penalty for the non-held-harmless groups wasn’t quite as severe. Further, Medicare offi cials already announced they used Medicare reserves to partially ease the extra pre- miums imposed on these groups. The chart below shows the 2017 monthly premium rates announced by Medicare. Premiums for individuals with incomes less than $85,000/$170,000 (individual/married) may vary a dollar or two because your individual premium will be based on the size of the COLA in your personal Social Security check.


2017 Monthly Medicare Part B Premiums Joint


Individual Income1


Under $85K


$85K– $107K


$107K– $160K


$160K– $214K


Above $214K


2016 Income1


Under $170K


$170K– $214K


$214K– $320K


$320K– $428K


Above $428K


Premium $1052


$1223 $171 $244 $317 $390


1 Based on 2015 modified adjusted gross income 2 Beneficiaries held harmless in 2016


3 2016 first-time Medicare enrollees or those not receiving Social Security 4 2017 first-time Medicare enrollees or those not receiving Social Security


/ 2017 Premium $1092 /$1344 $188 $268 $348 $429 /$1253


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