Medicare premium increase

WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- The monthly premium for basic Medicare coverage will go up to $110.50 a month, a 15 percent increase for about 12 million program beneficiaries.

Monday's disclosure about the increase led to U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to call for the U.S. Senate to pass a House of Representatives measure that would stop the increases. She said the increases would be a burden to seniors already facing a tough economy.

The premium hike would be assessed on relatively high-income recipients but also those who have their Medicare fees paid through Medicaid, essentially pushing the federal Medicare increase off onto states, which pay Medicaid.

The Medicare announcement came as select senators met to blend two committees' healthcare reform bills into one. U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, author of the measure that came through the Senate Finance Committee, made his bill available for reading. The measure came in at 1,502 pages.