Income-indexed, supplemental premiums will fill the gaps and further help offset costs.

The most affluent clients are charged "supplemental premiums" of up to $800 this year.

Most others will pay only small supplemental premiums.

It also imposes a "supplemental premium" - a 15 percent income tax surcharge, with a cap of $800 per year.

To qualify for this coverage, beneficiaries would have to pay a supplemental premium.

The supplemental premium is $22.50 for every $150 of Federal income tax liability.

The most substantial differerence between the two bills is the way the supplemental premium would be distributed across the income range.

"We haven't begun to see the beginning of their anger if they feel that the supplemental premium is being used to finance the Government," he said.

It is not a tax increase; it's a supplemental premium.

It's not exactly a supplemental premium because it applies to all the elderly, whether or not they have basic Medicare coverage.