|
E-mail this page to a friend!
Senior Citizen Politics
Capitol Awash in Medicare Bills Including One to Let
Everyone Join
Key bill reduces reimbursements to Medicare
Advantage Plans
 March 30, 2007 – The Capitol seems to be awash with
Medicare legislation. A key member of House Ways and Means says he will
introduce a bill to reduce Medicare reimbursements to Advantage plans, a
powerful senator joined a powerful House member to introduce legislation
to allow those under 65 to join Medicare, a bipartisan group offered a
bill to expand reimbursements for colorectal cancer screening and,
another group of advocates want an end to the Medicare waiting period
for people with disabilities. These are recent reports from KaiserNetwork.org.
Rep. Stark to Introduce Bill to Reduce
Reimbursements for Medicare Advantage Plans
House Ways and Means
Subcommittee on
Health Chair Pete Stark (D-Calif.) on Wednesday announced
that by July he plans to introduce legislation to reduce Medicare
reimbursements for private Medicare Advantage plans to help fund other
health care proposals,
CQ HealthBeat
reports.
The
Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission estimates that Medicare reimbursements
for MA plans -- which cover extra benefits, such as vision and hearing
tests and treatments -- are 12% higher than reimbursements for the
fee-for-service program for equivalent benefits.
Stark said that he would use savings from the
reduced Medicare reimbursements for MA plans to reverse a 10% reduction
in payments for physicians scheduled for 2008. In addition, Stark said
he would use the savings to provide more preventive care for Medicare
beneficiaries and provide low-income beneficiaries with additional help
with premiums and deductibles.
Stark also said he could use some of the savings
for a proposed expansion of SCHIP by $50 billion over five years.
CMS chief actuary Richard Foster on Wednesday told
the subcommittee that the Medicare hospital trust find would remain
solvent for two additional years and beneficiaries would pay $2 less per
month in premiums in the event that reimbursements for MA plans equaled
reimbursements for the fee-for-service program (Wayne, CQ HealthBeat,
4/25).
A report released on Monday by Medicare trustees
estimated
that the Medicare hospital trust fund would become insolvent by 2019
(CongressDaily, 4/26).
Foster Discusses Medicare Rx Drug Benefit
At a forum on Tuesday sponsored by the
American Enterprise
Institute, Foster said that the rate of prescription spending
growth used to calculate the cost of the Medicare prescription drug
benefit likely will increase to 12.6% annually over the next 10 years,
after growth decreased to single digits from 2004 to 2006.
Foster also said that Medicare prescription drug
plan premiums, which decreased in 2007, likely will increase in the
future. In addition, Foster said that inpatient hospitalizations among
Medicare beneficiaries, which decreased by 680,000 from 2005 to 2006,
likely did not result because of the Medicare prescription drug benefit,
as
HHS
Secretary Mike Leavitt indicated earlier this week.
Based on current conditions, Foster estimated that
Medicare Part B premiums would increase from $93.50 in 2007 to $100.50
in 2008 (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 4/25).
>> A webcast of the forum is available
online
at
kaisernetwork.org.
Dingell, Kennedy Introduce 'Medicare for All'
Bill
Senate Health,
Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Edward Kennedy
(D-Mass.) and
House Energy and
Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) on Wednesday
introduced companion bills (S 1218 and H 2034) that would allow U.S.
residents younger than age 65 to enroll in Medicare,
CQ HealthBeat
reports.
Under the "Medicare for All" bill, residents would
be eligible to enroll in Medicare or any of the health insurance plans
offered through the
Federal Employees
Health Benefit Program, or they could continue to receive
coverage under private plans. The legislation would shift the cost of
coverage to the federal government, which would increase federal
spending by about $600 billion annually.
Kennedy and Dingell said payroll taxes and general
revenue would cover the costs of the proposal. According to a summary of
the proposal, "A preliminary estimate of the payroll tax financing
necessary will be a payment of 7% of payroll by businesses and 1.7% by
workers."
Kennedy and Dingell said their plan would save $308
billion annually in administrative costs (CQ HealthBeat, 4/25). However,
the lawmakers "acknowledged that the measure does not yet have enough
support for consideration in either chamber," CongressDaily reports
(CongressDaily, 4/25).
Kennedy said, "The best plan for the nation is to
build on a program that all Americans know and respect by creating
Medicare for all." Dingell added, "Not only will covering all Americans
improve millions of lives, it will actually save money by reducing
emergency room costs and increasing access to preventive services and
earlier treatments" (CQ HealthBeat, 4/25).
>> ABC's "Good
Morning America" on Thursday featured an interview with ABC
medical editor Tim Johnson on the Kennedy-Dingell proposal (Roberts,
"Good Morning America," ABC, 4/26). Audio of the segment is available
online.
Bill Would Increase Medicare Coverage for Colon
Cancer Screening
A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced
legislation (S
1164) that would expand reimbursements for colorectal cancer
screening,
CQ HealthBeat
reports.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Benjamin Cardin
(D-Md.), would set reimbursements for colorectal cancer screening and
diagnostic tests at levels similar to what Medicare paid in 1997, when
the benefit originally was enacted.
Cardin in a release said that payment rates for the
procedure have declined by more than 33% since then. Under the measure,
colorectal cancer screening procedures would be exempt from the
customary Medicare deductible requirement regardless of the outcome of
screening.
Further, the legislation calls for Medicare to
cover a preoperative visit or consultation before a screening or
colonoscopy.
Cardin said, "This bill not only increases access
to colon cancer screenings for millions of Americans but will also save
the Medicare system millions of dollars that would otherwise be spent on
treating late-stage colon cancer" (CQ HealthBeat, 4/24).
Group Seeks Elimination of Medicare Waiting
Period for People With Disabilities
[Apr 30, 2007]
A coalition of 34 consumer groups, led by the
Medicare Rights
Center, has begun to lobby Congress to revise a law that
requires individuals with disabilities to wait two years to become
eligible for Medicare after they begin to receive Social Security
disability benefits, the
Dallas Morning News reports. Medicare implemented the
waiting period in 1972, when Congress expanded the program to cover
individuals with disabilities, to limit the cost and ensure only those
with severe and long-term disabilities would qualify for the program.
However, according to a
report
released earlier this month, the law is "sentencing people to inadequate
health care, poverty and death." The center estimates that elimination
of the waiting period would cost $8.7 billion annually, although savings
of $4.3 billion in Medicaid would offset some of the cost.
Deane Beebe, a co-author of the report, said, "It's
unconscionable to leave people stranded without affordable health care
coverage at the exact moment they need it most." She recommended that
Congress finance the elimination of the waiting period through reduced
reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans.
Some Concerns
Robert Moffitt, an analyst at the
Heritage
Foundation, said, "Medicare is a financial wreck, with $33
trillion in unfunded liabilities," adding "This would be another nail in
the coffin." Joseph Antos, a health care expert at the
American
Enterprise Institute, said, "Instead of opening the door to
everyone, let's do better at calculating financial need." He added,
"Some people do have other sources of insurance, so we should be careful
about expanding a program that's already facing serious financial
problems itself" (Moos,
Dallas Morning News,
4/26).
Click to More Senior News on the
Front Page
Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
