Bills Introduced to End Two-Year Wait for Disabled
to Get Help from Medicare
Coalition to End the Two-Year Wait for Medicare has
120 organizations in support
March 26, 2009 Bills introduced yesterday in the
House and Senate that are aimed at putting an end to the two-year
waiting period that people with disabilities must endure before getting
help from Medicare, received a rousing cheer from over 120 organizations
in the Coalition to End the Two-Year Wait for Medicare.
The bill, Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting
Period Act of 2009, was introduced in the Senate as S.700 by Senator
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM). Joining him were co-sponsors Sen Sherrod Brown
(D-OH) and Sen Susan M. Collins (R-ME).
This primarily benefits people under the age of 65,
when most become eligible for Medicare, who suffer from a severe and
costly disability.
The House version, H.R. 1708, was introduced by
Representative Gene Green (D-TX-29) and his co-sponsor, Rep Lee Terry
(R-NE-2).
Nearly 40 percent of people with disabilities are
without health insurance coverage at some point during their wait for
Medicare; 24 percent have no health insurance during this entire
period, the Coaltion wrote in a letter to sponsors Sen. Bingaman and
Rep. Green.
Many cannot afford to pay COBRA premiums to
maintain coverage from their former employer, and private coverage on
the individual market is unavailable or too expensive for this high-cost
population.
The waiting period forces people with severe
disabilities to endure two years during which treatment and care of
their condition are put at risk. As a result, people may forego care
they cannot afford, complicating their condition and potentially raising
the cost of care once Medicare does step in, said Kimberly Cantor,
Manager of Federal Government Relations from the National Multiple
Sclerosis Society.
This means that costs to Medicare will likely be
higher once the end of the waiting period is reached.
Our efforts to expand coverage to the uninsured
must include people with disabilities and their families who struggle to
pay medical bills and afford food and housing as they wait for Medicare
coverage to begin, said Diane Dorman, Vice President for Public Policy
for the National Organization of Rare Diseases. This arbitrary and
cruel delay in health coverage for the most vulnerable among us must
end.
Efforts by Congress and the new administration to
address Americas health care crisis provide a unique opportunity to end
the two-year waiting period. As a senator, President Barack Obama was a
cosponsor of the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of
2007 when it was introduced into the 110th Congress.
Bill Status:
S.700
Title: A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to phase out
the 24-month waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible
for Medicare benefits, to eliminate the waiting period for individuals
with life-threatening conditions, and for other purposes. Latest Major Action: 3/25/2009 Referred to Senate committee.
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Click to Bill at Library of Congress
H.R.1708
Title: To amend title II of the Social Security Act to phase out the
24-month waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible for
Medicare benefits, to eliminate the waiting period for individuals with
life-threatening conditions, and for other purposes. Latest Major Action: 3/25/2009 Referred to House committee.
Status: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to
the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Transportation and
Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Click to Bill at Library of Congress
March 26, 2009 Bills introduced yesterday in the
House and Senate that are aimed at putting an end to the two-year
waiting period that people with disabilities must endure before getting
help from Medicare, received a rousing cheer from over 120 organizations
in the Coalition to End the Two-Year Wait for Medicare.