Friday came the announcement that monthly Medicare Part B premiums for 2022 would start at $170.10, an increase of $21.60 (+14.5%), the largest dollar increase ever!

H-m-m-m-m. That’s $2,041.20/year times the 62.6 million on Medicare, not to mention the 7% of Medicare Beneficiaries (~ 4.4 million) who pay extra (IRMAA).

Comes to $130 +  billion of additional premium, according to “Medicare officials,” just to cover about half the Part B outpatient costs ($56,000/year) of a new Alzheimer’s drug (Biogen’s Aduhelm) administered intravenously in a doctor’s office.

This ‘story’ seems like an opportunity to be reminded of just who pays for health care.

Medicare?  They’re just a ‘payor,’ deriving their funding from our tax dollars.

Insurance companies?  Nope. They’re just ‘payors’ too, deriving their funding from our premiums.

Employers? Wrong again. They fund the cost of employer sponsored health plans from the same pool of money that pays our wages.

Perhaps there’s a legal difference between the words ‘payor’ and ‘payer’ (OK if you must, click HERE), but for help understanding who really pays for the high cost of health care, you may be looking in the wrong places.

Try a mirror!