I probably misread this, but I thought I read that if a person received spousal benefits in 2016, that in 2017 that the monthly cost of Medicare would balloon to $149 monthly. Is this true? Is there a relationship between spousal benefits for social security and the cost of Medicare?

Hi,

No, I guess you must have misread something. There is no relationship between spousal benefits and the amount of Medicare premiums.

There is a 'hold harmless' provision that can limit the amount that Medicare premiums can increase for people who are already receiving Social Security benefits and having their Medicare premiums deducted from their Social Security benefits (https://faq.ssa.gov/link/portal/34011/34019/Article/4122/Since-there-is-...). However, the type of benefits that a person is receiving makes no difference with regard to their Medicare premium amount.

Best, Jerry