Medicare Watch

New Blog Post from Medicare Rights President Joe Baker

Medicare Rights Center President Joe Baker recently published a blog for The Huffington Post, which was also featured by the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). The blog, “Don’t Cut Medicare Benefits—Tackle Drug Prices,” is a call for policymakers to look to solutions designed to lower rising health care costs—such as prescription drug costs in the Medicare program—rather than shift more costs to beneficiaries who are in no position to pay more for their health care.

The federal government currently negotiates drug rebates with pharmaceutical companies in the Medicaid program. Before the implementation of Medicare Part D—prescription drug coverage offered by private plans—these Medicaid rebates applied to people who were dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. According to Mr. Baker’s blog post, restoring these rebates for low-income Medicare beneficiaries would save the government up to $135 billion over 10 years, without shifting health care costs to older adults and people with disabilities. Even more savings could be achieved if rebates were required for all Medicare beneficiaries with a Part D drug plan.

Half of Medicare beneficiaries have annual incomes of $22,000 or less, and spend three times as much of their total expenses on health care as compared to non-Medicare households. Mr. Baker’s blog post reminds policymakers that the federal deficit should not be balanced on the backs of people with Medicare while the federal government grossly overpays pharmaceutical companies for drugs.

Read Mr. Baker’s blog post.

Kaiser Family Foundation Report Spotlights MA Plan Landscape in 2013

This week the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released a report spotlighting the Medicare Advantage (MA) plan landscape in 2013. According to the report, the MA marketplace remains just as robust in 2013, despite concerns that reductions in overpayments to MA plans contained in the Affordable Care Act would negatively affect plans and beneficiaries. Instead, there is little change in the number of MA plans available to beneficiaries in 2013 and relatively modest increases in average plan premiums.

For most beneficiaries, Medicare Open Enrollment ends on December 7th. Those affected by Hurricane Sandy will have more time.

Read the KFF report.

Medicare Reminder

The Open Enrollment Period for Medicare Advantage and Part D plans ends on December 7. However, Hurricane Sandy affected many parts of the Northeast, leaving many people with Medicare unable to choose on a new plan during this time. For that reason, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is allowing those affected by Hurricane Sandy to enroll into stand-alone Part D plans or Medicare Advantage plans outside of the Fall Open Enrollment Period.

You don't need to prove that you live in an area affected by Sandy to be eligible for the extended enrollment period. The extension also applies to people who don’t live in the affected area but rely on help making health care decisions from friends or family members who live in the affected areas.

There is no time limit after Fall Open Enrollment has ended for people to enroll into a new plan using the extended Open Enrollment Period.

If you were affected by Hurricane Sandy and need extra time to enroll in a drug or health plan after December 7, you should call 800-MEDICARE anytime, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Your coverage should begin on the first of the month after you enroll into the plan. This means that if you call 800-MEDICARE to enroll into a new plan before December 31, 2012, your plan coverage will begin on January 1, 2013.

Learn more about the additional time to enroll in plans for victims of Hurricane Sandy at www.medicareinteractive.org.

Spotlight

This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that, to date, 5.8 million people with Medicare have saved $5.1 billion on prescription drugs thanks to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA enacted several enhancements to Medicare, most notably the gradual closing the Part D prescription drug coverage gap, or doughnut hole, for beneficiaries. Almost 2.8 million older adults and people with disabilities in the doughnut hole have saved an average of $677 in the first 10 months of 2012 alone.

In 2013, the ACA will save beneficiaries more on their prescription drugs, increasing the discounts to 53 percent of the cost of brand name drugs and 21 percent of the cost of generic drugs. These discounts will increase gradually until the doughnut hole is completely closed in 2020.

Read the CMS press release.