The real horror show isn’t Friday the 13th. It’s your Medicare statement.

Open your last Medicare statement and try to figure out why you paid what you paid.

Granted, most seniors can’t… because that statement never even arrives as a bill.

Part B premiums are frequently deducted from Social Security before the money ever lands in your account.

You might have noticed your Social Security payment shrink. But you might not have known why. (The standard monthly Part B premium sat at $185 in 2025; it’s $203 now.)

That opacity might not be an accident — and a new congressional report suggests it’s costing you hard-earned money.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal broke a story based on findings from the Joint Economic Committee, a congressional panel of lawmakers that advises Congress on economic policy.

Their conclusion: In 2025, Medicare Part B premiums were inflated by $13.4 billion because of alleged overpayments to private Medicare Advantage insurers.

That’s about $212 extra per Medicare enrollee last year. And it hit every senior — not just those in Medicare Advantage plans.

“Let’s be honest about the math, when Medicare Advantage is overpaid, that money doesn’t just disappear, it shows up in the Medicare Part B premiums seniors pay every month, including those paid by traditional Medicare beneficiaries who are not getting extra benefits,” says Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ), JEC Chair.

To understand what happened, you need to know one billing trick: upcoding.

Your Rundown for Friday, March 13, 2026...

Stupid Billing Trick: Upcoding

Medicare Advantage is run by private insurers — companies including UnitedHealthcare, Aetna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

The government pays them a set monthly rate per customer, and that rate goes up the sicker the customer is. At least, on paper.

So insurers have a powerful financial incentive to find (or even invent) diagnoses. They use software to comb through medical records hunting for conditions to add. The more codes on the page, the more money they collect.

Congress originally designed Medicare Advantage to save money. The private sector, the thinking went, would run things more efficiently than the government.

Instead, in 2025, the federal government paid Medicare Advantage insurers an estimated $76–$84 billion more than it would have cost to cover the same people through traditional Medicare.

That’s not a rounding error. A colossal overcharge.

Since 2016, these overpayment-driven premium increases have added up to $82 billion in extra costs to beneficiaries.

The JEC projects that per-person Part B premiums will just about double between 2025 and 2035 — from about $2,440 to around $5,000 annually — with about $450 of that future premium directly attributable to Medicare Advantage overpayments if nothing changes.

The insurance industry has pushed back hard. A spokesman for AHIP, the health insurance trade group, tells the Wall Street Journal the report’s findings were based on “fundamentally flawed data, methodology and extrapolations” and shouldn’t be used to drive policy.

Even Medicare agency administrator Mehmet Oz offered a hedged response — saying he doesn’t think insurers are as overpaid as the report suggests, but conceded: “We should change the rules.”

The JEC says aligning Medicare Advantage payments with actual traditional Medicare costs would save the average senior about $2,600 over the next decade.

For someone living on a fixed income, that’s a car repair or two. That’s a year of prescription refills.

That’s something.

The question now is whether Congress will act — or whether the insurance lobby’s considerable influence will ensure the math stays hidden inside your Social Security statement.

[If you’re in Original Medicare, review your Medicare Summary Notice at Medicare.gov. If you’re in Medicare Advantage, review your plan’s Explanation of Benefits or other coverage notices.

If you spot a diagnosis or charge you don’t recognize, contact your provider or plan and consider calling Medicare’s free State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) for free one-on-one help.]

Market Rundown for Friday, March 13, 2026

S&P 500 futures are up 0.40% to 6,700.

Oil is down 1.70% to $94.10 for a barrel of WTI.

Gold’s down 0.15% to $5,118.10 per ounce.

Bitcoin is up 3.45% to $72,735.