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Senior Citizen Politics
Senate's Special Committee on Aging Holds First
Hearing Under Democrats
Focus was on how to enroll more senior citizens in
Medicare drug program
 February
1, 2007 – The Senate Special Committee on Aging is off and running under the new Democratic leadership but the
Website is not. The new committee chaired by Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wis) held
a hearing yesterday but few knew, since there was no press release from
the committee. A link did go up offering a live video link to the
hearing but did not appear to be operational. According to reports
gathered by KaiserNetwork.org, the hearing focused on the need for
improved efforts at enrolling senior citizens in the Medicare drug
program.
 Many Eligible Beneficiaries Not in Medicare
Prescription Drug Benefit Subsidy Program
CMS
and the
Social Security
Administration must improve efforts to enroll eligible
Medicare beneficiaries in a subsidy program under the prescription drug
benefit,
Senate Special
Committee on Aging Chair Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) said on Wednesday
at a hearing of the committee,
CQ HealthBeat
reports.
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Members Named to Senate's Special Committee on Aging
No sign of activity on the committee Website but
chairman busy
 January 26, 2007 – The Democrats in the U.S. Senate
may be busy with legislation but they are slow on getting their new
committees in action, at least the Special Committee on Aging, which is
now chaired by Democrat Herb Kohl, 71, of Wisconsin, who was the ranking
Democrat in the last congress. Both parties, however, have named the
members to the committee. Gordon Smith of Oregon, the former chairman,
will be the ranking Republican.
Read more...
Read more
on
Politics for Senior Citizens |
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Medicare beneficiaries must apply through SSA to
enroll in the subsidy program, which provides financial assistance to
beneficiaries with low incomes and few assets. Medicare beneficiaries
enrolled in the subsidy program can lose eligibility in the event that
they become ineligible for Medicaid, the supplemental security income
program or the Medicare savings program.
In such cases, Medicare beneficiaries must reapply
to enroll in the subsidy program. About 600,000 Medicare beneficiaries
enrolled in the subsidy program in 2006 must reapply to enroll in 2007,
Kohl said. "And since the application process is so onerous, we know
that some seniors will simply give up," he said, adding, "As we enter
the second year of the Medicare drug benefit, we have an obligation to
make sure it is working for all seniors but particularly for our poorest
seniors, who need help the most. We are not there today."
According to a
National Council
on Aging report released at the hearing, between 3.4 million
and 4.4 million Medicare beneficiaries qualify for, but have not
enrolled in, the subsidy program. The report also found that about 2.9
million Medicare beneficiaries who have not enrolled in the prescription
drug benefit have no other medication coverage.
Kohl said the hearing marked the first of a
series in which the committee will seek "to fix the problems with
Medicare's prescription drug program so that seniors can finally enjoy a
simple, affordable benefit."
Additional Discussion
Lawrence Kocot, a senior adviser to the CMS administrator, said that the
agency has sought to enroll eligible Medicare beneficiaries in the
subsidy program through partnerships with grass-roots organizations;
local, state and federal agencies; State Health Insurance Assistance
Programs; and other groups.
Kocot said, "Our work to identify and enroll these
beneficiaries is a multifaceted, continuous effort that did not stop
with the end of the first enrollment period; rather it has been a
sustained and ongoing effort." About 10 million Medicare beneficiaries
enrolled in the subsidy program in 2006, and about 35% of beneficiaries
who lost eligibility have reapplied to enroll in 2007, according to
Kocot.
Beatrice Disman, chair of the Medicare Planning and
Implementation Task Force at SSA, said that the agency has used "any and
all means at our disposal" -- such as mailings, telephone calls and
computer databases -- to identify and enroll eligible Medicare
beneficiaries in the subsidy program.
Howard Bedlin, vice president of policy and
advocacy for NCOA, said that Congress should pass legislation to
eliminate the asset test for eligibility for the subsidy program because
the provision disqualifies some Medicare beneficiaries with modest
assets. Half of Medicare beneficiaries who fail the asset test have
assets of less than $35,000, and those beneficiaries often are older,
female, widowed and living alone, according to Bedlin.
Sen. Gordon Smith (R-Ore.), ranking member of the
committee, said that he plans to introduce a bill to simplify the asset
test and reintroduce a bill to eliminate cost-sharing requirements for
low-income beneficiaries who reside in long-term care facilities other
than nursing homes.
Ellen Leitzer, executive director of the
Health Assistance
Partnership, a group that works with SHIPs, said that the
programs require additional funds because they address many questions
from beneficiaries that CMS or Medicare prescription drug plans should
address (Carey, CQ HealthBeat, 1/31).
>> Website for
Senate Special Committee on Aging
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