Report: Out-of-Pocket Medicare Costs Double Under Republican Plan
More details out today on how the Republican move to balance the federal budget by ending Medicare would cost seniors a lot. A new state-by-state analysis by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee (JEC) finds that annual out-of-pocket Medicare health care costs will more than double in every state for seniors turning 65 in 2022 under the Republican budget plan. Seniors living in Florida would be the hardest hit with a $7,383 jump in medical costs, the JEC estimates.
The report also shows that current Medicare beneficiaries will be harmed by the Republican budget, immediately losing preventive services such as mammograms and facing higher prescription drug costs. The Republican plan also would reopen the donut hole, the gap in Medicare Part D that had forced beneficiaries to pay 100 percent of their drug costs after they exceeded an initial coverage limit and until they qualified for catastrophic coverage.
Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), chairman of the JEC, says:
If Republicans have their way, traditional Medicare will no longer exist in 2022. Instead, our elderly will get a voucher to purchase private insurance, but the voucher won’t keep pace with health care costs. The result would be a staggering increase in out-of-pocket costs beginning in 2022. Our elderly Americans cannot afford to have their health care expenses double, but that’s exactly what the Republican plan delivers.
Click here for the state-by-state breakdown of the increase in out-of-pocket health care costs.
New Brochure on Health Care Reform and Medicare Available
Seniors around the country who count on Medicare for their health coverage and have questions about how the new health care reform law impacts their coverage can find many of those answers in a new brochure that will be in their mailboxes soon or by downloading a copy here.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is mailing the brochure to all traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage enrollees. It assures beneficiaries that “the guaranteed benefits you currently receive will remain the same,” including choice of doctors. It outlines the key provisions and expanded benefits of the new law.
Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services, writes in an introduction that the new health care reform law will
provide you and your family greater savings and increased quality health care. It will also ensure accountability throughout the health care system so that you, your family, and your doctor—not insurance companies—have greater control over your care.
Working Families Win with House Health Care Reform Fixes
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After Senate Republicans failed yesterday in their last desperate attempt to kill health care reform and allow the insurance industry to control the nation’s health care system, the House last night passed the final piece of legislation that puts working families in charge of their health care.
In a 220-207 vote, the House approved the health care reconciliation bill that fixes several flaws in the health care reform legislation President Obama signed this week—including significantly reducing the tax on working families’ benefits. Says House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.):
With this legislation in place, families will have access to even more affordable care than the reform the president signed this week. Seniors will see the prescription drug “donut hole” close faster, and they will start paying less for their prescription drugs this year. Taxpayers will not pay for special deals that favor one state over another, and primary care doctors will receive fair pay for providing critical services to low-income Americans.
Obama Releases Revised Health Care Reform Blueprint
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President Obama this morning released his version of health care reform legislation that combines elements of the Senate and House bills passed late last year. The new plan was unveiled in preparation for Thursday’s televised bipartisan White House health care summit.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said working families “look foward”
to moving the ball forward this week toward the goal of quality, affordable health care for all Americans. Republicans in Congress have an opportunity to stand with working families or continue to protect the profits of the insurance industry. We are prepared to work with the White House and leadership in Congress to advance a comprehensive health care bill that will be passed into law.
Medicare Turns 44, Seniors Push for Health Care Reform
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Seniors and health care activists across the country are celebrating the 44th birthday of Medicare today by lobbying for improvements to the program and expanding quality, affordable health care for all.
In more than 30 events in 17 states across the country, members of the Alliance for Retired Americans are honoring Medicare’s success and outlining a positive agenda for comprehensive health care reform legislation that will help current and future retirees.
Thousands of Alliance members are holding birthday parties, sending letters to the editor to their local newspapers and visiting the local offices of lawmakers to call for real health care reform, not cosmetic changes.
Drop Dead? Is That the Way Republican Reps. Talk to Seniors?
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Opponents of critically needed health care reform continue to demonstrate how out of touch they are with working America—and in a recent egregious comment by a House Republican, the opposition has also insulted the nation’s seniors.
Here’s what Florida Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite said Tuesday on the House floor:
“Last week, Democrats released a health care bill which essentially said to America’s seniors: ‘Drop dead.’ ”
Tony Fransetta, president of the Florida Alliance for Retired Americans, is outraged by Brown-Waite’s injudicious and downright ugly comment.
Rep. Brown-Waite’s remarks earlier this week were not only inappropriate and inaccurate, but they were a misleading and divisive attempt to scare Florida’s seniors in the current debate over national health care reform.
Prescription Drug Donut Hole: ‘Sweetheart Deal’ for Big Pharma
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Phil Feaster, a retired truck driver from Fort Washington, Md., is one of more than 24 million seniors in Medicare’s prescription drug program, the program that is supposed to cover most of the prescription drug expenses for participants.
But Feaster, a member of the Alliance for Retired Americas, like 3.4 million other Medicare Part D enrollees, falls into a very expensive “donut hole.”
For Feaster, it’s a $700 a month hole that he hopes will be closed by comprehensive health care reform legislation introduced today in the House of Representatives.
Speaking at a Capitol Hill press conference yesterday, Feaster said:
My generation likes to tell it like it is: The donut hole is a rip-off. You pay money, but get nothing in return. Can you imagine going to a restaurant where all they give you is an empty plate—but yet they still force you to pay for a full meal? Of course not.
