📢 Action Needed: Tell Congress to Protect Federal Funding
The new legislation is an attempt to compromise with the White House and Senate Republicans, who prefer a smaller relief bill. Despite its reduced cost, the bill continues to include many changes that are critical for people with Medicare and their families.
After a summer recess and district work period, Congress returned to Washington this week to stalled negotiations on much-needed COVID-19 relief. Completing work on the bill remains a top priority for many lawmakers, but the House and Senate continue to have very different visions for a final package.
New data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) indicates those who do tend to have higher health care needs, spending, and utilization rates than people with employer-sponsored health insurance.
In a new issue brief, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) collects recent federal, state, and local research on COVID-19’s impact by race and ethnicity. Though the data remains incomplete, it confirms that COVID-19 is continuing to disproportionately impact Black, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), and Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHOPI) people.
On August 7, a group of 26 Senators asked the Trump administration to ease access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), the letter urges immediate enrollment improvements to Medicare and to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) federally run marketplace. This includes establishing Special Enrollment Periods (SEP) that would help people more quickly connect with their coverage.
There is clear evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn are causing millions of Americans to lose not only their jobs but also their employment-based health insurance. What’s less well known is how many of these workers are remaining uninsured, and how many are shifting to other coverage—such as a spouse’s plan, Medicaid, or Medicare. Federal data on these changes will not be available until next year. In the interim, a new Families USA analysis seeks to partially fill this information gap.
Work on the next coronavirus relief bill is underway. U.S. House and Senate leaders are negotiating the size and scope of the final legislation, as well as specific policy items.
The Medicare Rights Center appreciates the potential for Medicare telehealth expansions to increase access to care. We have long supported allowing Medicare beneficiaries to obtain critical behavioral health services, including some furnished by opioid treatment programs, remotely—regardless of where they live and from their own home.
Yesterday, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously advanced the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (H.R. 2477). Next steps for the bill include consideration by the full House.
Today, the Medicare Rights Center sent congressional leaders a letter of support for the BENES Act (S. 1280/H.R. 2477) signed by all living former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (previously the Health Care Financing Administration) Administrators, Republicans and Democrats.
The new legislation is an attempt to compromise with the White House and Senate Republicans, who prefer a smaller relief bill. Despite its reduced cost, the bill continues to include many changes that are critical for people with Medicare and their families.
After a summer recess and district work period, Congress returned to Washington this week to stalled negotiations on much-needed COVID-19 relief. Completing work on the bill remains a top priority for many lawmakers, but the House and Senate continue to have very different visions for a final package.
New data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) indicates those who do tend to have higher health care needs, spending, and utilization rates than people with employer-sponsored health insurance.
In a new issue brief, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) collects recent federal, state, and local research on COVID-19’s impact by race and ethnicity. Though the data remains incomplete, it confirms that COVID-19 is continuing to disproportionately impact Black, Hispanic, Asian American, American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN), and Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (NHOPI) people.
On August 7, a group of 26 Senators asked the Trump administration to ease access to health care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Led by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), the letter urges immediate enrollment improvements to Medicare and to the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) federally run marketplace. This includes establishing Special Enrollment Periods (SEP) that would help people more quickly connect with their coverage.
There is clear evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic and economic downturn are causing millions of Americans to lose not only their jobs but also their employment-based health insurance. What’s less well known is how many of these workers are remaining uninsured, and how many are shifting to other coverage—such as a spouse’s plan, Medicaid, or Medicare. Federal data on these changes will not be available until next year. In the interim, a new Families USA analysis seeks to partially fill this information gap.
Work on the next coronavirus relief bill is underway. U.S. House and Senate leaders are negotiating the size and scope of the final legislation, as well as specific policy items.
The Medicare Rights Center appreciates the potential for Medicare telehealth expansions to increase access to care. We have long supported allowing Medicare beneficiaries to obtain critical behavioral health services, including some furnished by opioid treatment programs, remotely—regardless of where they live and from their own home.
Yesterday, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce unanimously advanced the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (H.R. 2477). Next steps for the bill include consideration by the full House.
Today, the Medicare Rights Center sent congressional leaders a letter of support for the BENES Act (S. 1280/H.R. 2477) signed by all living former Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (previously the Health Care Financing Administration) Administrators, Republicans and Democrats.
