Posts filed under ‘Medicare Reform’
The Center for Medicare Advocacy works for a comprehensive Medicare program and quality health coverage and care for all people. To accomplish these goals for current and future beneficiaries in the changing health care environment, we seek to:
- Improve Medicare for current and future beneficiaries.
- Support the development of the best method possible to increase access to quality health coverage and care for the most people.
Medicare Platform to Improve Medicare for all beneficiaries, now and in the future:
1. Consumer Protections and Quality Coverage for All Medicare Beneficiaries (Including Parity Between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage)
- Cap out-of-pocket costs in traditional Medicare
- Require Medigap plans to be available to all individuals in traditional Medicare, regardless of pre-existing conditions and age (“Guarantee Issue” and “Community Rating”)
- Ensure all benefits in Medicare Advantage are also available in traditional Medicare
- For example, include all MA “supplemental benefits,” waiver of 3-day prior hospital stay requirement for SNF coverage, coverage for home health aides, coordinated care
- Simplify enrollment in traditional Medicare, Part D and Medigap, and ease transitions from other insurances to Medicare
- Improve consumer protections in Medicare Advantage
- Standardize benefit packages,
- Strengthen network adequacy requirements
- Strengthen plan oversight
- Strengthen marketing protections
- Ensure parity between mental health and physical health coverage
- Ensure the Medicare appeals system is cost-effective, accessible and fair
2. Reduce Ongoing Barriers to Care
- Eliminate the harm of hospital “Observation Status”
- Home Health – Ensure access to coverage is actually available for all beneficiaries who meet coverage criteria, ensure access to legally authorized home health aides, resolve conflicts between payment models and coverage laws
- Jimmo Implementation – Ensure beneficiaries with longer-term, chronic, and/or debilitating conditions have full access to skilled nursing, therapy and related care needed to maintain their conditions or slow decline
3. Improve Traditional Medicare
- Add oral health, audiology, vision coverage
- Restructure Medicare to make it comprehensive, simpler and affordable
- Increase Low-Income Protections in the Medicare Savings Program (at least on par with ACA subsidies)
- Long-term Care – Add coverage over time. For now, make incremental improvements (For example, repeal homebound requirement for home health coverage, repeal requirement that individual need skilled care and be homebound to qualify for home health aide coverage, repeal requirement that DME generally be needed in the home)
1/2019
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January 30, 2019 at 3:11 pm meshepard
Center for Medicare Advocacy Executive Director Judith Stein was recently featured in the New York Times explaining how the devastating tax bills will lead to devastating cuts to Medicare and the social compact we all rely on.
Re “Republicans Are Coming for Your Benefits,” by Paul Krugman (column, Dec. 5):
Make no mistake: The tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people that Congress is determined to pass will lead to major cuts to health and economic security for the rest of us.
The Congressional Budget Office anticipates that Medicare alone will be cut by $25 billion in 2018, and the bills also set up future cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. The tax legislation would also increase taxes for millions of households with yearly incomes below $200,000.
American families will be expected to pay the price for the trillions added to the federal deficit. Indeed, Senator Marco Rubio said recently that passage of the tax bill “will mean instituting structural changes to Social Security and Medicare.”
Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Congress will have to cut so-called entitlement programs. That’s code for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Most people and families won’t benefit from these tax cuts. Yet most will be harmed by the spending cuts needed to pay for them. Instead of gutting the social compact Americans rely on, Congress should work to pass true tax reform that helps all Americans and invests in a better future for everyone.
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December 12, 2017 at 4:02 pm centeruser
Congress’ rushed effort to push through a massive tax cut for corporations and the wealthy presents a clear and present danger to health coverage, other vital programs, and families throughout the country. After adding $1.5 trillion to the federal debt, policymakers will use the higher debt – created by the tax cuts – to argue that deep cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and other bedrock programs are necessary.
Amazingly, the tax cut bill just got even worse. After failing repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Senate is now seeking to repeal the ACA’s individual mandate to purchase insurance coverage in order to help pay for tax cuts. They know this will devastate the ACA.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), without this provision far fewer people – particularly younger and healthier people – will buy health insurance, which will lead to 13 million people without coverage, and higher premiums for millions more.
To add insult to injury, the CBO also stated that, in addition to the longer-term threats the tax cut poses to Medicare, the cut would also immediately threaten the program. Indeed, CBO projects that the enormous cost of the tax bill would prompt immediate, automatic and ongoing spending cuts to Medicare – $25 billion in 2018 alone.
It’s time to stop this fast-track process to starve the federal budget and pay for massive tax cuts by undercutting the health and economic security of millions of American families.
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November 15, 2017 at 10:46 pm Judith Stein
In a September 2017 editorial, the New York Times reviewed proposals to improve health care coverage as efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are stalled – at least for now. As noted in the editorial, “[t]he Republican campaign to repeal Obamacare, for all its waste of time and energy, has at least gotten people to talk seriously about proposals to improve the health care system.”
When looking to expand access to health care coverage, it’s natural to look to Medicare, the country’s well-tested, flagship health insurance program. Medicare is not only more cost-effective than private insurance, it’s also beloved by beneficiaries, their families, and the general public. Thus, proposals presented by some would aggregate our current, multi-pronged coverage system into a single-payer model, which some call “Medicare-for-All.” Other proposals would allow people under age 65 to buy-into Medicare.
Considering several of these proposals, a recent article in the New Republic asked: “[i]f the plan is to transition to something like Medicare-for-All, shouldn’t the strategy begin with making Medicare great?”
Yes! We agree, before moving more people into Medicare, it needs to be improved and simplified. With all of its virtues, Medicare also has flaws. There are still significant gaps in coverage – vision, hearing and routine dental, not to mention long-term care. Traditional Medicare does not include a cap on out-of-pocket expenses or its own prescription drug benefit. Medicare Advantage adds costs to the system and significantly limits enrollees’ provider choices. Assistance for low-income individuals is limited. And, all too often, payment and quality measures lead many providers to prematurely terminate, or avoid providing medically necessary care entirely, for people with longer-term, chronic and debilitating conditions.
Traditional Medicare must include the same benefits and the same limits on cost-sharing as private Medicare Advantage. People who choose traditional Medicare ought to have the same cap on out-of-pocket costs and the same “one-stop-shopping” opportunities as people in private Medicare Advantage. Like their counter-parts in Medicare Advantage, people who choose traditional Medicare should be able to obtain prescription drug coverage without having to purchase a separate Part D plan. If supplemental, Medigap insurance continues to be necessary to help with cost-sharing, it should be available and affordable for all people with Medicare, including people with disabilities and pre-existing conditions, which it is not the case in many states.
As health policy discussions (hopefully) turn towards expanding, rather than contracting, health coverage, the Center for Medicare Advocacy will work to improve Medicare for all those it currently serves, and may serve in the future. This is a critical first step before adopting Medicare as a basis for health coverage expansion.
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September 18, 2017 at 2:00 pm Judith Stein
Last week, an older adult wrote the Center for Medicare Advocacy:
“I will be on the streets at 66 years old without Medicare and Medicaid. It’s as simple as that. My money has all gone raising 3 granddaughters after their mother died. There are millions of stories like mine everywhere. We must help the least of us that had bad luck or are sick etc.” J.D., Medicare Beneficiary, Michigan
This week, on its first day, Congress passed a Resolution that begins the process to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Repealing ACA threatens access to health coverage and Medicaid for 20 million people. It would also reduce Medicare prescription drug coverage, reduce Medicare preventive benefits, and decrease the long-term solvency of the Medicare program.
ACA, Medicare and Medicaid are intertwined. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would also harm Medicare and Medicaid. It would harm the people, like Mrs. D, who raised her own family and is now raising her grandchildren.
Policy-makers need to know how their decisions impact real people. If you know someone who has benefited from the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and/or Medicaid – Tell Your Story!
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January 4, 2017 at 11:26 pm Judith Stein
Si, Medicare importa! Abrio sus puertas al cuidado medico al proporcionar cobertura que el mercado privado no querria ofrecer. Hoy dia 55 millones de personas viejas y personas incapacidadas disfrutan de atencion medica gracias a Medicare. El programa alivia familias de preocupacion y mejora la calidad de sus vidas, su tranquilidad, salud y seguridad economica. Sin embargo, en 2017 todo esto esta a riesgo.
Tenemos que mantener Medicare al dia, con salud oral, audiologia y cobertura de vision. Deberiamos pagar solamante el mejor precio por medicamentos de receta, y poner fin al derrame de los dolares de Medicare a las ganacias de las companias de seguros. Medicare tiene que quedar vital y relevante. Pero esto solamente puede ocurrir si Medicare se renueva y no se retrocede de su promesa.
Desafortunadamente, muchas de las personas entrando en ls escena nacional que van a establecer nuevas politicas estan dedicadas a convertir Medicare de un programa de beneficios definidos a un programa de contribuciones definidas que ayudaria a pagar por primas de seguros individuales y privadas. Este resultado seria el fin de Medicare tal como lo conocemos, con sus multiples objectivos de proporcionar cubertura de la mas alta calidad y con los precios mas justos. En cambio, cada persona recibiria un comprobante en la forma de un pago parcial para buscar y comprar un seguro medico en el mercado privado.
Por mas de 50 anos Medicare ha servido las nececidades de familias individuales y al mismo tiempo el programa ha ayudado a unir nuestra familia nacional. Las informaciones aqui incluidas, comentarios y historias veridicas demuestran lo que esta al riesgo si deshacemos este tesoro nacional- y como podemos renovarlo por las generaciones por venir.
“Antes de que eramos eligibles para Medicare nuestras finanzas casi fueron destruidas por primas de seguros altas…Medicare ha hecho una diferencia enorme en nuestra capacidad de disfrutar de una cobertura adequada, especialmente desde que la crisis economica resulto en la disminucion severa de nuestros fondos de jubilacion.”
K.M., Beneficiaria de Medicare, Minnesota
#SalvarMedicareAhora
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December 29, 2016 at 8:50 pm Judith Stein
With all the talk about repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare), many people miss the impact repeal would have on Medicare, older and disabled adults, and their families. ACA added preventive benefits to Medicare, decreased Part D cost-sharing for prescription drugs, and increased the long-term solvency of Medicare by about 11 years.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation:
” Full repeal would increase spending primarily by restoring higher payments to health care providers and Medicare Advantage plans. The increase in Medicare spending would likely lead to higher Medicare premiums, deductibles, and cost sharing for beneficiaries, and accelerate the insolvency of the Medicare Part A trust fund. Policymakers will confront decisions about the Medicare provisions in the ACA in their efforts to repeal and replace the law.”
http://kff.org/health-reform/issue-brief/what-are-the-implications-of-repealing-the-affordable-care-act-for-medicare-spending-and-beneficiaries/
Policy-makers and people who rely on Medicare should think twice before supporting legislation that will give windfalls to private insurance companies, while reducing coverage and increasing costs for older and disabled people.
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December 13, 2016 at 5:20 pm Judith Stein
November 29, 2016 – Despite statements during the campaign that he would protect Medicare, the President-Elect is indicating otherwise with his selections of Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) to head the Department of Health & Human Services, and health consultant Seema Verma to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Price is an ardent foe of the Affordable Care Act, although it has extended the solvency of the Medicare Part A Trust Fund, closed gaps in prescription drug coverage, and expanded preventive benefits under Medicare.
Particularly threatening to Medicare and Medicare beneficiaries, says Center for Medicare Advocacy Executive Director, Judith Stein, “Rep. Price favors letting people opt-out of Medicare. Allowing beneficiaries – most likely the healthiest beneficiaries – to opt out of Medicare is an example of what Newt Gingrich in 1995 called letting the program ‘wither on the vine.’ The key to future solvency is a larger coverage pool, not a smaller one. That’s just how insurance works.”
In addition, Mr. Price’s proposals to rely on tax credits as incentives to purchase insurance ignore the fact that a huge number of families don’t make enough income for such credits to be worthwhile. Further, CMS nominee Verma favors Health Savings Accounts – another private option that would break up the Medicare community. “All of these proposals,” continued Ms. Stein, “will be sold to Medicare beneficiaries as ‘preserving’ and ‘protecting’ Medicare. In fact, they will end Medicare and turn it over to the private insurance industry.”
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November 29, 2016 at 5:44 pm Judith Stein
In 1995 Newt Gingrich predicted that privatization efforts would lead Medicare to wither on the vine. He said it was unwise to get rid of Medicare right away, but envisioned a time when it would no longer exist because beneficiaries would move to private insurance plans.
Well … that’s what’s happening. Not just by happenstance, but rather according to a determined, strategic plan. The plan has included the following:
- Government subsidies to private plans, renamed “Medicare Advantage,” ranging from 14% – 2% above traditional Medicare per-beneficiary costs;
- Additional benefits added to private Medicare Advantage, benefits that weren’t added, and aren’t allowed, in traditional Medicare;
- Part D prescription drug coverage wrapped into Medicare Advantage, but not into traditional Medicare;
- Increases in traditional Medicare Part B premiums, especially for the middle class;
- Limits on access to Medigap insurance to supplement traditional Medicare and on benefits for those who can obtain a Medigap policy.
It didn’t take a crystal ball. It took a vision, planning and persistence.
The Center for Medicare Advocacy also has vision, planning and persistence. We do all we can to keep Medicare focused on the needs of older and disabled people, not the insurance industry. We speak out with expertise and with the stories of real people.
With your support, we’ll keep insisting that Medicare is fully present for the families that rely on it – now and in the future. We’re ready to keep Medicare from withering on the vine.
Will you help?
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November 28, 2016 at 4:48 pm Judith Stein
The title of Paul Krugman’s piece in today’s NY Times says it all. The Medicare Killers tells the truth about the Trump/Ryan plan to turn back the clock on Medicare and give it away to the private insurance industry. A good deal for insurance companies, but a very bad deal for the 60 million older and disabled people who access health care through Medicare. Importantly, as Krugman writes, this is not necessary. It’s just the latest ploy to privatize Medicare. Call it what it is.
Help the Center for Medicare Advocacy speak out against false claims and misinformation that could rob older people and people with disabilities of necessary health care – and diminish Medicare for generations to come. Spread the word. Tell the truth about Medicare.
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November 18, 2016 at 4:35 pm Judith Stein
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