The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced this week that senior citizens and the disabled will pay $88.50 per month next year for doctor's visits and other services, a $10.30 rise in the fee. The 13.2 percent increase in Part B premiums is necessary, according to CMS officials, due to the 6.3 percent increase in the number and intensity of services physicians provided last year. The AMA, however, defends the increase in services noting the sharp rise in chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease and that many conditions once requiring hospitalization are now routinely treated in physician offices at a lower cost to government and patients. Most of the 42 million Americans on Medicare have the premium deducted from their Social Security check-though next year's cost-of-living increase has yet to be released, in 2005 40 percent of it went to pay for the Part B premium increase.