Playing Politics with Medicare…again
On Friday, the fees that Medicare pays to doctors dropped 21 percent because Congress hasn?t been able to pass legislation to prevent the cut. While the Senate passed a bill that day to postpone the rate cut for another 6 months, the House now must vote on the legislation. Reports are, Speaker Pelosi, is not impressed with this substantially shorter ?fix? than what the House had already approved.Medicare doctors and their patients are sick and tired of what?s become an annual Congressional ritual of passing short-term solutions to a problem created almost 15 years ago. Ezra Klein offers a great reminder of how we got here, because contrary to GOP mythology–the doc fixfiasco wasn?t caused by recently passed health care reform legislation–in fact, it could and should have been fixed in that bill:?You’re all probably as tired of reading this as I am of explaining it, but here, again, is the quick background. In 1997, the Republican Congress created a payment formula meant to govern Medicare called the Sustainable Growth Rate. The formula was supposed to be a little tweak that saved a couple billion dollars. But the formula was wrong, and it quickly proved a wrenching readjustment that would’ve driven physicians out of the program by sharply slashing their payments. But rather than undo it, Republicans in Congress, and then Democrats when they took over Congress, passed temporary fixes, because no one wanted to come up with the money to fix the thing permanently.When health-care reform started, Democrats made an admirable effort to end the shell game and just fix the system. But doing so cost almost $300 billion, and Republicans, who caused this mess in the first place, attacked the Democrats’ fix as if it was part of their health-care reform plan rather than part of the Balanced Budget Act that Republicans passed in 1997. So Democrats abandoned the effort and left the fix out of health-care reform.?So, doctors in Medicare are scheduled for pay cuts now or, if the House acts, temporary relief to pay cuts that will come back around again in just months. There?s no hope of a permanent fix because the same folks who created the flawed formula in the first place, won?t pay to fix it now. So, who really pays in all of this? America?s seniors who are already finding itharder to find and keep their doctors in Medicare.Remember starve the beast? This is what it looks like.
Ahhh…the Good Old Days…Debtor’s Prisons and No Entitlements
Apparently, these are the ?good-old days? our nation?s fiscal hawks relish. The Peterson Foundation?s David Walker co-hosted CNBC?s Squawk Box this morning (personally, we yearn for the good-old days when so-called ?news? shows were hosted by journalists?not partisan advocates?but that?s another debate).The discussion followed the classic Peterson Foundation talking points?government bad, business good?but ultimately led to a nostalgic reminiscence for the good old days when Americans faced debtors prisons and had no sense of ?entitlement? (presumably to the Social Security and Medicare benefits workers have funded for their entire working lives):
“The fact of the matter is we have to change how we do things. We are on an imprudent and unsustainable path in a number of ways. You talk about debtors prisons, we used to have debtors prisons, now bankruptcy is no taint. Bankruptcy is an exit strategy. Our society and our culture have changed. We need to get back to opportunity and move away from entitlement. We need to be able to provide reasonable risk but hold people accountable when they do imprudent things…it?s pretty fundamental.”…David Walker, Peterson Foundation, CNBC Jun 10, 2010
Now, maybe in the Peterson Foundation?s circle of Wall Street types and multi-billionaires, bankruptcy is an exit strategy, but for millions of middle-class Americans bankruptcy is, in fact, a life-altering and often debilitating choice. As for pitting ?opportunity? vs ?entitlement??that?s classic Peterson Foundation messaging designed to convince us that America?s seniors are somehow riding high on the hog and soaking taxpayers with all of their ?entitlements?.Of course, these fiscal hawks never mention that fact that the government doesn?t pay for those ?entitlements?, American workers do. It?s not the government?s money…it?s not Wall Street?s money…and those so-called ?entitlements? have been paid for by you and me. The truth is, retirees are entitled to receive the benefits they?ve been promised; however, fiscal hawks like David Walker would apparently rather roll back the clock, ignore those promises, and build more debtor?s prisons.
Maryland Senior Talks About the Donut Hole
Fran Garfinkle is a 70-year old retired small business owner and cancer survivor from Bethesda, Maryland. She’s among four million seniors who will be trapped in the Medicare Part D coverage gap known as the ?donut hole?this year. Fran has seen first-hand how quickly retirementplans can change when confronted with skyrocketing health care costs, rising premiums and Part D?s flawed ?donut hole? provision. She fell into the donut hole for the first time last summer.
?We scrimped and saved and somehow I managed to find the money to buy the prescriptions I needed last year. Then this May, I reached the ?donut hole? again and the whole nightmare started from the beginning. Like so many others, my husband and I are on a fixed income. It?s pretty scary. We pay for medicare plan, medicare supplement plan, prescription drug plan, dental plan and on top of all the copays, we are now paying 100% of my drug costs because I?m back in the ?donut hole?…Fran Garfinkle, NCPSSM volunteer
Fran, a volunteer with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, will be joined by President Obama and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a national seniors Tele-Town Hall event tomorrow. Participants will talk about the donut hole and provisions in the new health care reform legislation, which will ultimately close the donut hole in addition to making many other improvements to Medicare. 80,000 seniors who?ve already fallen into the donut hole this year will begin receiving the first rebate checks this week to help close their coverage gap. The $250 checks will continue to go to beneficiaries as more fall into the donut hole throughout 2010.The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is committed to providing America?s seniors with updated and detailed analyses of how healthcare reform legislation will affect their medical coverage in Medicare. In addition to co-sponsoring tomorrow?s Tele-Town Hall event, we?ve released a new web video, ?Health Reform and Seniors?, which is being shown during community meetings, town halls and grassroots events. The video is available on the National Committee?s YouTube Channel .This video supplements the National Committee?s popular newsletter, Secure Retirement, which provides detailed coverage of health care reform in its spring issue. The publication is in its second printing due to very high demand from seniors nationwide.
This Check Really is in the Mail
Over eight million seniors each year are trapped in the Part D donut hole –a cruel coverage gap where they pay premiums but get no drug coverage. It?s a provision only insurers could love and was included in the legislation which created Part D. Closing that donut hole has been on of our top legislative priorities and one of the most beneficial improvements included in healthcare reform legislation.In just days, the first step in the gradual phase out to close that gap begins. 80,000 seniors who?ve already fallen into the donut hole this year will begin receiving the first rebate checksnext week to help close their coverage gap. The $250 checks will continue to go to beneficiaries as more fall into the donut hole throughout 2010. Donut hole checks will generally be sent out every quarter. Although it is always possible for checks to be delayed, below is the planned schedule for distributing payments:
| If you fall into the “donut hole” by: | Your check will likely be sent by : |
| March 30, 2010 | June 10, 2010 |
| June 30, 2010 | September 15, 2010 |
| September 30, 2010 | December 15, 2010 |
| December 30, 2010 | March 15, 2011 |
We?ve provided more details about the new rebate in a fact sheet on our NCPSSM website.Starting in 2011, people who reach the doughnut hole will receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs. That means the typical senior will save $700 next year thanks to health reform legislation. By 2020, the doughnut hole will be eliminated.What this reform will ultimately do is put real health care dollars back into the pockets of seniors who need them and not to the insurers who?ve profited for years from this flawed provision. Check out the CMS brochure for beneficiaries here.
Still Confused about Health Reform?
Many Medicare beneficiaries are and it’s no wonder given all the misinformation swirling aroundhealth reform legislation.Today Congressional leadership and the administration have teamed up to help seniors understand how health reform will impact Medicare.
?Older Americans are dependent on Medicare for their health coverage. So seniors are especially susceptible to misinformation that Medicare is threatened by reforms. They are anxious and looking for information and they absolutely need a reliable place where they can get their questions answered accurately. It?s critical that seniors get the facts about provisions that will benefit them as soon as next month.? Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO
For 84-year-old Ben Williamowsky, the health care reform debate was often confusing and frustrating. As a retired dentist, he understands our current health system well, yet was discouraged by the amount of misinformation being targeted to seniors, during the debate and even now. Williamowsky described his frustration at a Capitol Hill news conference hosted by House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi today:
?I?m old enough that I remember what it was like in the early days after Medicare was created ? when similar scare tactics were used ? threatening seniors with all sorts of bad things if Medicare was enacted. None of them happened. Doctors didn?t go out of business or stop seeing seniors. In fact, life was much better for millions of seniors who desperately needed health coverage and today Medicare is a tremendous success story. But not everyone remembers history the way I do. That?s why we absolutely need someplace we can trust to answer our questions and dispel the false rumors about this new law. ? Dr. Ben Williamowsky, Medicare Recipient
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described a new brochure being mailed to Medicare beneficiaries to help them sort fact from fiction, avoid scammers who want to profit from seniors? confusion and give beneficiaries the information they need to take advantage of historic reforms in the donut hole, preventative services and more.The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is committed to providing America?s seniors with updated and detailed analyses of how healthcare reform legislation will affect their medical coverage in Medicare. In our newly released web video, ?Health Reform and Seniors?, we describe many of the provisions in health reform which will touch the lives of seniors, some as soon as next year. The video is available on the National Committee?s YouTube Channeland will also be made available to seniors groups, town hall meetings, and grassroots events.This video supplements the National Committee?s popular newsletter, Secure Retirement, which provides detailed coverage of health care reform in its spring issue. In fact, we?ve run a second printing of this publication due to very high demand from seniors nationwide.
Playing Politics with Medicare…again
On Friday, the fees that Medicare pays to doctors dropped 21 percent because Congress hasn?t been able to pass legislation to prevent the cut. While the Senate passed a bill that day to postpone the rate cut for another 6 months, the House now must vote on the legislation. Reports are, Speaker Pelosi, is not impressed with this substantially shorter ?fix? than what the House had already approved.Medicare doctors and their patients are sick and tired of what?s become an annual Congressional ritual of passing short-term solutions to a problem created almost 15 years ago. Ezra Klein offers a great reminder of how we got here, because contrary to GOP mythology–the doc fixfiasco wasn?t caused by recently passed health care reform legislation–in fact, it could and should have been fixed in that bill:?You’re all probably as tired of reading this as I am of explaining it, but here, again, is the quick background. In 1997, the Republican Congress created a payment formula meant to govern Medicare called the Sustainable Growth Rate. The formula was supposed to be a little tweak that saved a couple billion dollars. But the formula was wrong, and it quickly proved a wrenching readjustment that would’ve driven physicians out of the program by sharply slashing their payments. But rather than undo it, Republicans in Congress, and then Democrats when they took over Congress, passed temporary fixes, because no one wanted to come up with the money to fix the thing permanently.When health-care reform started, Democrats made an admirable effort to end the shell game and just fix the system. But doing so cost almost $300 billion, and Republicans, who caused this mess in the first place, attacked the Democrats’ fix as if it was part of their health-care reform plan rather than part of the Balanced Budget Act that Republicans passed in 1997. So Democrats abandoned the effort and left the fix out of health-care reform.?So, doctors in Medicare are scheduled for pay cuts now or, if the House acts, temporary relief to pay cuts that will come back around again in just months. There?s no hope of a permanent fix because the same folks who created the flawed formula in the first place, won?t pay to fix it now. So, who really pays in all of this? America?s seniors who are already finding itharder to find and keep their doctors in Medicare.Remember starve the beast? This is what it looks like.
Ahhh…the Good Old Days…Debtor’s Prisons and No Entitlements
Apparently, these are the ?good-old days? our nation?s fiscal hawks relish. The Peterson Foundation?s David Walker co-hosted CNBC?s Squawk Box this morning (personally, we yearn for the good-old days when so-called ?news? shows were hosted by journalists?not partisan advocates?but that?s another debate).The discussion followed the classic Peterson Foundation talking points?government bad, business good?but ultimately led to a nostalgic reminiscence for the good old days when Americans faced debtors prisons and had no sense of ?entitlement? (presumably to the Social Security and Medicare benefits workers have funded for their entire working lives):
“The fact of the matter is we have to change how we do things. We are on an imprudent and unsustainable path in a number of ways. You talk about debtors prisons, we used to have debtors prisons, now bankruptcy is no taint. Bankruptcy is an exit strategy. Our society and our culture have changed. We need to get back to opportunity and move away from entitlement. We need to be able to provide reasonable risk but hold people accountable when they do imprudent things…it?s pretty fundamental.”…David Walker, Peterson Foundation, CNBC Jun 10, 2010
Now, maybe in the Peterson Foundation?s circle of Wall Street types and multi-billionaires, bankruptcy is an exit strategy, but for millions of middle-class Americans bankruptcy is, in fact, a life-altering and often debilitating choice. As for pitting ?opportunity? vs ?entitlement??that?s classic Peterson Foundation messaging designed to convince us that America?s seniors are somehow riding high on the hog and soaking taxpayers with all of their ?entitlements?.Of course, these fiscal hawks never mention that fact that the government doesn?t pay for those ?entitlements?, American workers do. It?s not the government?s money…it?s not Wall Street?s money…and those so-called ?entitlements? have been paid for by you and me. The truth is, retirees are entitled to receive the benefits they?ve been promised; however, fiscal hawks like David Walker would apparently rather roll back the clock, ignore those promises, and build more debtor?s prisons.
Maryland Senior Talks About the Donut Hole
Fran Garfinkle is a 70-year old retired small business owner and cancer survivor from Bethesda, Maryland. She’s among four million seniors who will be trapped in the Medicare Part D coverage gap known as the ?donut hole?this year. Fran has seen first-hand how quickly retirementplans can change when confronted with skyrocketing health care costs, rising premiums and Part D?s flawed ?donut hole? provision. She fell into the donut hole for the first time last summer.
?We scrimped and saved and somehow I managed to find the money to buy the prescriptions I needed last year. Then this May, I reached the ?donut hole? again and the whole nightmare started from the beginning. Like so many others, my husband and I are on a fixed income. It?s pretty scary. We pay for medicare plan, medicare supplement plan, prescription drug plan, dental plan and on top of all the copays, we are now paying 100% of my drug costs because I?m back in the ?donut hole?…Fran Garfinkle, NCPSSM volunteer
Fran, a volunteer with the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, will be joined by President Obama and Secretary Kathleen Sebelius at a national seniors Tele-Town Hall event tomorrow. Participants will talk about the donut hole and provisions in the new health care reform legislation, which will ultimately close the donut hole in addition to making many other improvements to Medicare. 80,000 seniors who?ve already fallen into the donut hole this year will begin receiving the first rebate checks this week to help close their coverage gap. The $250 checks will continue to go to beneficiaries as more fall into the donut hole throughout 2010.The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is committed to providing America?s seniors with updated and detailed analyses of how healthcare reform legislation will affect their medical coverage in Medicare. In addition to co-sponsoring tomorrow?s Tele-Town Hall event, we?ve released a new web video, ?Health Reform and Seniors?, which is being shown during community meetings, town halls and grassroots events. The video is available on the National Committee?s YouTube Channel .This video supplements the National Committee?s popular newsletter, Secure Retirement, which provides detailed coverage of health care reform in its spring issue. The publication is in its second printing due to very high demand from seniors nationwide.
This Check Really is in the Mail
Over eight million seniors each year are trapped in the Part D donut hole –a cruel coverage gap where they pay premiums but get no drug coverage. It?s a provision only insurers could love and was included in the legislation which created Part D. Closing that donut hole has been on of our top legislative priorities and one of the most beneficial improvements included in healthcare reform legislation.In just days, the first step in the gradual phase out to close that gap begins. 80,000 seniors who?ve already fallen into the donut hole this year will begin receiving the first rebate checksnext week to help close their coverage gap. The $250 checks will continue to go to beneficiaries as more fall into the donut hole throughout 2010. Donut hole checks will generally be sent out every quarter. Although it is always possible for checks to be delayed, below is the planned schedule for distributing payments:
| If you fall into the “donut hole” by: | Your check will likely be sent by : |
| March 30, 2010 | June 10, 2010 |
| June 30, 2010 | September 15, 2010 |
| September 30, 2010 | December 15, 2010 |
| December 30, 2010 | March 15, 2011 |
We?ve provided more details about the new rebate in a fact sheet on our NCPSSM website.Starting in 2011, people who reach the doughnut hole will receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs. That means the typical senior will save $700 next year thanks to health reform legislation. By 2020, the doughnut hole will be eliminated.What this reform will ultimately do is put real health care dollars back into the pockets of seniors who need them and not to the insurers who?ve profited for years from this flawed provision. Check out the CMS brochure for beneficiaries here.
Still Confused about Health Reform?
Many Medicare beneficiaries are and it’s no wonder given all the misinformation swirling aroundhealth reform legislation.Today Congressional leadership and the administration have teamed up to help seniors understand how health reform will impact Medicare.
?Older Americans are dependent on Medicare for their health coverage. So seniors are especially susceptible to misinformation that Medicare is threatened by reforms. They are anxious and looking for information and they absolutely need a reliable place where they can get their questions answered accurately. It?s critical that seniors get the facts about provisions that will benefit them as soon as next month.? Barbara B. Kennelly, President/CEO
For 84-year-old Ben Williamowsky, the health care reform debate was often confusing and frustrating. As a retired dentist, he understands our current health system well, yet was discouraged by the amount of misinformation being targeted to seniors, during the debate and even now. Williamowsky described his frustration at a Capitol Hill news conference hosted by House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi today:
?I?m old enough that I remember what it was like in the early days after Medicare was created ? when similar scare tactics were used ? threatening seniors with all sorts of bad things if Medicare was enacted. None of them happened. Doctors didn?t go out of business or stop seeing seniors. In fact, life was much better for millions of seniors who desperately needed health coverage and today Medicare is a tremendous success story. But not everyone remembers history the way I do. That?s why we absolutely need someplace we can trust to answer our questions and dispel the false rumors about this new law. ? Dr. Ben Williamowsky, Medicare Recipient
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius described a new brochure being mailed to Medicare beneficiaries to help them sort fact from fiction, avoid scammers who want to profit from seniors? confusion and give beneficiaries the information they need to take advantage of historic reforms in the donut hole, preventative services and more.The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare is committed to providing America?s seniors with updated and detailed analyses of how healthcare reform legislation will affect their medical coverage in Medicare. In our newly released web video, ?Health Reform and Seniors?, we describe many of the provisions in health reform which will touch the lives of seniors, some as soon as next year. The video is available on the National Committee?s YouTube Channeland will also be made available to seniors groups, town hall meetings, and grassroots events.This video supplements the National Committee?s popular newsletter, Secure Retirement, which provides detailed coverage of health care reform in its spring issue. In fact, we?ve run a second printing of this publication due to very high demand from seniors nationwide.