Medicare premiums to jump next year / Increase of at least 12.4% is sign of future crisis as Boomers retire

Medicare premiums for seniors are on course to rise 12.4 percent next year, on top of a 17 percent increase this year, said Richard Foster, chief actuary for the giant health care program for the elderly, at a Medicare and Social Security forum Friday.

The premiums are likely to go even higher, Foster said, because the estimate assumes that doctor payments will be cut 5 percent. Congress “almost certainly” will reverse those cuts as it has in the past, sending premium increases probably to 14 or 15 percent, he said.