Letter: Be thankful you have Medicare

I read in a recent letter to the editor that a gentleman was dismayed to find out that, because of an increase in his adjusted gross income, he was required to pay an additional Medicare premium that resulted in his and his wife having to pay $633 a month for Part B and for Part D (medicine) for the two of them.

Before this frightens those who receive Medicare, the increase he mentions is for only the year he had the additional income, and in order to pay such a sum, he and his wife would have had an income range of between $320,000 and $428,000 for the year in question. (The Medicare chart can be found on the Social Security website.)

While he says he is not "rich," I think the gentlemen should thank his lucky stars for having Medicare at all. The average cost of medical insurance for an individual in the US is now $5,429, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. It is double that for a couple, and for a family it is over $15,000.

Diane Jessee

Yuba City