Medicare officials announced early last month that payments for the portion of Medicare that covers doctor and outpatient services will rise by $11.60, to $78.20 a month next year, a nearly 18% increase.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry attacked President Bush for his handling of the Social Security program. But the Bush campaign said yesterday that elderly citizens won't get smaller benefit checks in January than they did last December. The law, the campaign said, doesn't permit the Medicare premium increase to exceed the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment.

The announcement's timing two weeks before election day was coincidental. The Social Security inflation adjustment is announced each year on the day the Labor Department releases its September consumer-price index. The Social Security Administration last year announced a 2.1% increase, or $19 a month, for the average retiree.

In September, a sharp jump in lodging costs helped push up U.S. Core inflation -- minus volatile food and energy sectors -- by 0.3%, the fastest pace in five months, the Labor Department said.

The department said a 2.9% jump in the cost of lodging -- such as hotels and college housing -- accounted for about three-quarters of the higher September core consumer-price index, which had risen only 0.1% in each of the prior three months.

A 0.4% drop in energy prices in September, the third straight monthly decline, helped temper the rise in the consumer-price index.

In September, gasoline prices rose a mild 0.1%, the report said. Fuel-oil costs shot up 2.1%, but natural-gas prices slid 3.1% and electricity costs held steady.

"This confirms inflation remains steadfastly under control despite rising oil prices," said Peter Morici, a business professor at University of Maryland.

But experts said the energy report for last month doesn't reflect the recent sharp rise in oil prices, which have well exceeded $50 a barrel. Each $1 increase in crude-oil prices translates into 2½ cents per gallon of gasoline. Crude prices were at about their August levels in late September and have been rising since. "going forward, we can expect gasoline and home heating-oil prices to consistently follow crude-oil prices up," Mr. Morici said.

Write to Michael Schroeder at mike.schroeder@wsj.com⁶