Administration Provides Information Online for
Senior Citizens on Health Insurance Reform
Vice President Joe Biden and Human Services (HHS)
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius presented report at meeting with seniors
Oct. 1, 2009 In an effort to clear up some of the
confusion about how senior citizens could be affected by health care
reform, Vice President Joe Biden and Human Services (HHS) Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius recently hosted a meeting for seniors and released a
report by HHS that outlines how reform issues may help older Americans
and answers key questions.
The report, Health Insurance Reform and Medicare:
Making Medicare Stronger for Americas Seniors, was also posted on
www.HealthReform.gov.
We will protect seniors -- not burden them with
out of pocket costs, said Vice President Biden. The bottom line is,
seniors will be better off under what we are proposing, and not a dollar
from the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for health insurance
reform.
CBO says it will not add to federal deficit: to be fully
paid for mostly through quality, efficiency, prevention and adjustments in
federal health programs
Under health insurance reform, seniors will get
better care and their health care costs will go down, said Secretary
Sebelius. Reform will strengthen Medicare, cut drug costs, and help
ensure all seniors get the high-quality, affordable care they deserve.
The report highlights several problems in the
current health care system and health insurance reform solutions. Some of those are below as presented by the report:
Preserving and strengthening Medicare
According to the Medicare Trustees 2009 report, the
Medicare Part A Trust Fund will be exhausted by 2017. Health insurance
reform will extend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by an additional
four to five years -- and delivery system reforms included in health
insurance reform have the potential to keep the Trust Fund solvent even
longer into the future.
Health insurance reform will also reduce
overpayments to private plans and will clamp down on fraud and abuse to
strengthen Medicare for all seniors. Coupled with improvements in the
quality of care, expansion of the health care workforce, and reductions
in out-of-pocket costs, health insurance reform will ensure that
Medicare will continue to provide the high-quality, affordable coverage
that Americas seniors deserve and expect.
Cutting high prescription drug costs.
Prescription drug costs represent a significant
expense for seniors. While Medicare added a prescription drug benefit,
this benefit includes a coverage gap commonly called the donut hole.
In 2007, over 8 million seniors hit the donut hole.
For those who are not low-income or have not
purchased other coverage, average drug costs in this coverage gap are
$340 per month, or $4,080 per year. Health insurance reform will close
the coverage gap in Medicare Part D over time, so seniors do not have to
worry about losing coverage for their drug costs.
While the closure of the coverage gap is phased in,
health insurance reform will also provide seniors with a discount of 50
percent on their brand name medication costs in the coverage gap, saving
thousands of dollars for some seniors.
Making preventive services free.
Many seniors do not receive recommended preventive
and primary care, leading to less effective and more expensive
treatments. For example, 20 percent of women aged 50 and over did not
receive a mammogram in the past two years, and 38 percent of adults aged
50 and over have never had a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy.
Seniors in Medicare must pay 20 percent of the cost
of many preventive services on their own. For a colonoscopy that costs
$700, this means that a senior must pay $140 -- a price that can be
prohibitively expensive. Under health insurance reform, a senior would
not pay anything for a screening colonoscopy or other preventive
services. Reform will eliminate any deductibles, copayments, or other
cost-sharing for obtaining preventive services, making them affordable
and accessible.
Ending overpayments to private insurance
companies that cost all Medicare beneficiaries.
The federal government pays private insurance
companies on average 14 percent more for providing coverage to Medicare
Advantage beneficiaries than it would pay for the same beneficiary in
the traditional Medicare program. There is no evidence that this extra
payment leads to better quality for Medicare beneficiaries, and all
Medicare beneficiaries pay the price of these excessive overpayments
through higher premiums -- even the 78 percent of seniors who are not
enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.
A typical couple in traditional Medicare will pay
on average nearly $90 next year to subsidize private insurance companies
that do not provide their Medicare benefits. Health insurance reform
will eliminate excessive government subsidies to Medicare Advantage
plans, which could save the federal government, taxpayers, and Medicare
beneficiaries well over $100 billion over the next 10 years.
Oct. 1, 2009 In an effort to clear up some of the
confusion about how senior citizens could be affected by health care
reform, Vice President Joe Biden and Human Services (HHS) Secretary
Kathleen Sebelius recently hosted a meeting for seniors and released a
report by HHS that outlines how reform issues may help older Americans
and answers key questions.
Sen. Baucus presents amended version of Finance
Committee bill; changes in Medicare, Medicaid provisions
