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Seniors: Join Biden in Medicare/Health Care Reform Conference Call
Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will host a conference call Thursday, Sept. 23, at 11:30 a.m. EDT to talk about how the new health care reform law helps seniors on Medicare.
The law lowers the cost of prescription drugs and provides free preventive benefits in Medicare as of Jan. 1, 2011. The new law:
- Provides a $250 rebate to those in the Medicare “donut hole” (those checks started going out earlier this summer) and in subsequent years fully closes this coverage gap.
- Ends co-payments and deductibles for annual physicals, mammograms, colonoscopies and other preventive screenings.
- Helps early retirees (ages 55 to 64) better afford and keep their private health insurance.
- Enables middle-class families to better afford the high costs of long-term care.
- Strengthens the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by ending wasteful taxpayer subsidies and overpayments to private insurance companies who operate Medicare Advantage programs.
For more on the new health care reform law from the Alliance for Retired Americans, click here.
Thursday is also the day several key components of the law go into effect. Biden and Sebelius will discuss the new Patients’ Bill of Rights provisions, which put an end to some of the worst insurance abuses and put consumers—not insurance companies—in control of their health care.
To join in the call on the Affordable Health Care Act, call 888-455-9735. Tell your friends, neighbors and family members.
If you have questions you would like answered, e-mail public@who.eop.gov or externalaffairs@hhs.gov.
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2 Comments
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In respect to Employer mandates, it appears from http://www.BenefitsManager.net and http://www.AHealthInsuranceQuote.com analysis that employers nationwide will be assessed a $2,000 penalty for every employee not offered group health insurance or commonly referred to employer sponsored health insurance. Does this include part time employees that traditionally didn’t qualify or buy health insurance in the first place because of the cost vrs. Hours worked? How in the world is an employer going to absorb this cost? So if an employee doesn’t want to participate in paying their share, the employer is penalized $2,000?
Let’s set the record straight. First off, there is no mandate that employers provide coverage in the law. But, starting in 2014, if an employer with 50 or more employees doesn’t offer coverage AND at least one FULL-TIME worker qualifies and takes a tax credit to buy coverage in an exchange (tax credits are based on income), then the employer pays a $2000 penalty. Lack of coverage for part-timers would not trigger any penalty. Further, an employee can opt out of coverage and this wouldn’t trigger the penalty. Or an employee doesn’t take coverage but doesn’t qualify for a subsidy either -that would not trigger the penalty either.
The other thing to point out is that employers with 25 workers or less and an average wages of $50,000 or less can qualify for a tax credit to pay for 35 percent (rising to 50 percent in 2014) of the cost of coverage for up to two years.