Advocacy Group Wants Overhaul of How Medicare
Communicates with Senior Citizens
Medicare Rights Center sends proposal to new Health
& Human Services Secretary
Does this do the job?
March 3, 2009 – When the new nominee for Health &
Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, first sits down at her new
desk she will probably find a new proposal to make sweeping changes to
the counseling and consumer education programs of the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Medicare Rights Center, a national
consumer service organization, made their recommendations public today.
“The current policy relies on an expensive and
inadequate toll-free service - 1-800-Medicare - to meet the demand for
consumer advice that is fueled by a needlessly complicated array of
private drug and health plan options,” said Paul Precht, Director of
Policy and Communications.
Report to Congress again emphasizes Medicare’s
payment system for private fee-for-service plans is seriously flawed;
wants significant cuts to home healthcare providers (payments cuts of
5.5% next year), hospice end-of-life care, medical imaging services and
Medicare Advantage insurance plans; does suggest a 1.1 percent hike for
doctors but more transparency.
“We have outlined key steps toward improving
consumers’ experience with Medicare in a cost-effective manner. The
first step is a renewed commitment by the incoming leadership at CMS to
putting the interests of people with Medicare at the center of all its
education and counseling efforts.”
“People with Medicare need significantly more
assistance from the federal government in order to receive the benefits
to which they are entitled,” said Dr. Bruce Vladeck, chairman of the
Medicare Rights Center Board of Directors and former administrator of
CMS (then HCFA).
“It’s long past time for CMS to refocus on its
primary mission of serving consumers. Doing so will be neither very hard
nor terribly expensive; CMS just has to decide that’s what it wants to
do.”
In the proposal submitted to Governor Kathleen
Sebelius, President Obama’s designee as Secretary of Health and Human
Services, the Medicare Rights Center outlined how CMS’s counseling and
education programs currently work, and why they do not meet the needs of
consumers.
Following is the MRC introduction to the proposal:
“For decades, Medicare has provided older adults and people with
disabilities with security in their health coverage, despite the
program’s complicated rules surrounding enrollment, benefits and
coverage. The addition of the drug benefit (Part D) and its Extra Help
program, and the expansion of the Medicare Advantage program (Part C),
with its numerous and varied health plan options, have increased the
complexity of Medicare. The vast number of plan choices in Parts C and D
has left many consumers and their caregivers overwhelmed, unable to
discern which plan options are best for them.
“The results of this confusion leave some with insufficient or
inappropriate coverage, saddled with unaffordable medical bills or
unable to obtain needed health care.
“This complexity has increased the need for accurate information for
consumers. Despite the need, most people with Medicare do not have
access to understandable information or to effective assistance for
making sound choices about their health care options.
“Today, consumers largely rely on plan marketing materials that are more
promotional than educational and often misleading.
“Consumers looking for unbiased information must turn to tools sponsored
by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) under its National
Medicare & You Education Program. These tools—1-800-Medicare, the
Medicare & You annual handbook, and the Medicare.gov website—have severe
shortcomings.”
MRS recommends a new approach, which would be
guided by the following objectives:
1. Congress and the Administration must
standardize Medicare private health plans (also known as “Medicare
Advantage” plans) and drug plan choices to allow people with Medicare to
make informed choices and eliminate wasteful spending;
2. CMS must revise its organizational structure
and create a new office that is attuned to and accountable for meeting
the educational and counseling needs of people with Medicare;
3. CMS must harness the experience and resources
of community and advocacy organizations, including State Health
Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs), and better equip them to serve
people with Medicare; and
4. CMS must move toward greater use of dynamic,
interactive web-based education and counseling resources and reduce
dependence on the 1-800-Medicare telephone hotline.
>> To access the full report and recommendations in pdf format –
click here
>> To access pdf version of Medicare & You 2009
–
click here
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