The Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act is bipartisan legislation to modernize the Part B enrollment process recently introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Developed by the Medicare Rights Center and championed by Congressmen Raul Ruiz (D-CA) and Patrick Meehan (R-PA) as well as Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the bill aims to prevent costly Part B enrollment mistakes.

When President Obama took office in January 2009, one out of seven Americans had no health insurance. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) increased the number of insured by improving the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health care. This week, the President published a comprehensive article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) outlining the positive results and improvements brought about by the ACA. Despite the innumerable developments brought to health care through the ACA, the President does not dismiss the fact that more is needed to carry forward the law’s promise.