SSA's 'hold harmless' provision harms boomers

Maybe we should rethink waiting for full retirement age to claim Social Security benefits. Some Medicare beneficiaries are seeing their premiums increase 15 percent in 2010, the Wall Street Journal reports. This increase will be disproportionately levied on boomers who were putting off collecting Social Security benefits in order to claim a bigger check, as well as Medicare Part B recipients who are turning 65 this year.

The Social Security Act's "hold harmless" provision says Medicare can't increase Social Security recipients' premiums by more than the annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustment. With no adjustment set for 2010, that leaves 27 percent of Medicare beneficiaries to bear the brunt of the premium increases.

Last year, the Department of Health and Human Services supported a bill that would have eliminated these higher premiums, protecting higher-income enrollees with larger premiums as well as lower-income enrollees whose premiums are covered by Medicare and Medicaid, the Journal writes. That bill stalled in the Senate. No cost-of-living adjustment is expected for next year, so boomers could continue paying for Social Security recipients who receive Medicare in 2011, according to the Journal.