By Kerry Hannon, yahoo!finance Senior Columnist, Sun, December 3, 2023

A new law, the Inflation Reduction Act, caps seniors’ prescription drug costs covered under Medicare, starting in 2025, to $2,000, and beginning next year allows no more than a 6% annual jump in Part D premiums.

Overall, average monthly premiums for Part D will be “substantially higher” in 2024, according to an analysis by KFF, a nonprofit provider of health policy research.

The national average monthly Part D premium … is projected to increase 21% in 2024 to $48, up 21% from $40 in 2023, according to KFF.

Rising Medicare Part D premiums come as retirees receive a much smaller Social Security cost-of-living adjustment in 2024 — 3.2% compared to the 8.7% increase in benefits they received in 2023. The increase will add more than $50 to the average monthly benefit of $1,848 starting in January, according to the SSA.

No Medicare drug plan may have a deductible more than $545 in 2024, up from $505 this year, plus “co-pays and what consumers pay for drugs inside their plans will also increase,” he added.

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