{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/new-savings-medicare-part-b-beneficiaries-announced-after-rep-courtneys", "New Savings for Medicare Part B Beneficiaries Announced After Rep. Courtney\u2019s Year-Long Effort Prevails", "2022-09-27", "2022", "2022-09", "Democrat", "House", "CT", "Joe Courtney", "C001069", "courtney.house.gov", "courtney", "https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases", "scraper", "NORWICH, CT \u2014 Today, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) announced that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will officially lower costs for Medicare Part B beneficiaries in 2023. The update comes after CMS\u2019s release of 2023 Medicare Parts A and B Premiums and Deductibles, which notes that Medicare Part B beneficiaries will see a 3% reduction in monthly premium costs and a 3% reduction in their deductibles starting in January 2023. The price reduction is a sharp reversal from the price hike that beneficiaries saw in 2022, and it represents the first lowered premium for Medicare Part B beneficiaries in a decade, since 2011.\n\nThese reduced costs are being delivered following Rep. Courtney\u2019s effort to compel CMS to re-evaluate its 2022 Medicare Part B price hike, which was brought on by the skyrocketing price of a new Alzheimer\u2019s drug called Aduhelm. After the price of Aduhelm was subsequently cut in half by its manufacturer, Courtney began pressing U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra to re-evaluate 14.5% Medicare Part B premium hike\u2014which was the largest in the history of the program. Now, these savings will be returned to Medicare Part B beneficiaries throughout the year in 2023, and they\u2019ll compliment other new forms of lowered costs for seniors and families.\n\n\u201cSeniors who rely on Medicare Part B haven\u2019t seen a lowered premium rate in ten years\u2014this is a great win for them, and it\u2019s a complete one-eighty from the price hike we fought back against in 2022,\u201d said Rep. Courtney. \u201cThe Medicare Part B price increase announced in November 2021 couldn\u2019t have come at a worse time, and we\u2019ve been working ever since then to get it reversed\u2014especially after we found out that the driving force behind the increase wound up being blunted. Shifting the rudder over at CMS isn\u2019t a small task, but we kept at it, and now these lowered costs are going to mean savings for seniors throughout 2023. Coupled with other new forms of lowered costs through bills like the Inflation Reduction Act, as well as with a new COLA adjustment coming up soon, these reduced premiums will really add to the mosaic of cost savings that Congress has authorized for seniors and families moving forward.\u201d\n\nIn its report, CMS shared the following information:\n\nReduced Premium Cost\u2014The standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B enrollees will be $164.90 for 2023, a decrease of $5.20 (3%) from $170.10 in 2022.\n\nA Lowered Deductible\u2014The annual deductible for all Medicare Part B beneficiaries is $226 in 2023, a decrease of $7 (3%) in 2022.\n\nFor more, read the CMS fact sheet on Medicare Part B premiums and deductibles.\n\nSeniors and other Medicare Part B beneficiaries will begin seeing these savings in January 2023\u2014and they\u2019ll be coupled with other new forms of lowered costs being delivered to seniors and families through bills like the Inflation Reeducation Act, and more. For example, under the Inflation Reduction Act, HHS will be able to start negotiating for lower drug prices under Medicare Part B and Part D for the first time ever starting in 2023. The bill will also prohibit drug companies from raising prices on Medicare beneficiaries at a rate faster than inflation starting in 2023, and will cap the cost of insulin at $35/month for Medicare beneficiaries starting in 2023. Click here to read more.\n\nLeading the Effort to Lower Costs for Medicare Part B Beneficiaries\n\nIn November 2021, CMS announced a 14.5% price hike for Medicare Part B beneficiaries starting in 2022\u2014the largest premium increase in the history of the program. The price increase was brought on by the skyrocketing price of a new Alzheimer\u2019s drug, \u201cAduhelm\u201d, initially priced at $56,000 per year by its manufacturer. The high price point, combined with the unknown size of patient population, resulted in CMS actuaries announcing the 14.5% increase in 2022 Part B premiums.\n\nHowever, after the price hike was announced, the price of Aduhelm was drastically reduced by its manufacturer from $56,000 to $28,000 per year. With this information in-hand, Rep. Courtney began leading the push to reverse the price increase:\n\nJanuary 19, 2022\u2014Rep. Courtney led a coalition of 31 Members of Congress in writing to Secretary Becerra, encouraging HHS to conduct a complete review of CMS actuarial data to determine whether the Medicare Part B premium hike could be blunted or reversed immediately. Click here to read more.\n\nFebruary 17, 2022\u2014Courtney authored an op-ed for The Hill newspaper highlighting the need to reverse the 2022 Part B premium price hike: The Driving Force Behind Medicare Part B\u2019s Price Increase Was Blunted\u2014The Price Hike Should Be, Too.\n\nMarch 18, 2022\u2014Courtney welcomed an update from HHS and Secretary Becerra that CMS was actively reassessing Medicare Part B premiums for 2022, and exploring options on lowering costs so that seniors don\u2019t pay more than necessary after the price reduction of Aduhelm. Click here to read more.\n\nApril 6, 2022\u2014In a full House Education and Labor Committee hearing, Courtney continued pressing Secretary Becerra for an update on how the department will lower costs for seniors now that the driving force behind the Medicare Part B premium increase had been blunted. \u201cWe\u2019re in April right now,\u201d Courtney said at the hearing, \u201ccan you give us an update in terms of whether or not there is going to be, hopefully, some commonsense adjustment [\u2026]?\u201d Click here to watch.\n\nMay 27, 2022\u2014CMS released a report on its reassessment of Medicare Part B premium payments, which acknowledged that program spending had been lower-than-expected after the price of Aduhelm was reduced. The report recommended that the cost savings be passed on to Medicare Part B program participants in the 2023 premium calculation. Click here to read more.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:08:33Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://courtney.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/new-savings-medicare-part-b-beneficiaries-announced-after-rep-courtneys"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.165295649319887, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}