PRICEY MEDS

Report: Medicare Drug Premiums to Rise

In the next year.

Senior citizens should start searching now for a better Medicare prescription plan because the top 10 are about to see a major premium hike—of the double-digit variety. Avalere Health, a private health-care-analysis firm, released a report Monday predicting next year's premium surge. Officials for the Obama administration announced back in August that the basic drug-prescription premium for Medicare qualifiers will remain at $30 in 2013, but Avalere argues that while that number may be true for the entire market, it doesn’t take into account how price swings will affect individual customers. “The average senior is going to benefit by carefully scrutinizing their situation, because every year the market changes,” said Avalere’s president.