IMPORTANT NOTICE: Many stories
relating to Medicare appear in our section on
Senior Politics. News on the Medicare drug program is in its own
section, prior to 2009 - Click
Medicare News
Medicare Pays Doctors More for Bladder Biopsies in
Office; Dramatic Increase Occurs?
Medicare’s hope was to save money by escaping
hospital costs but it has opposite effect
Feb. 8, 2009-Increased Medicare payments to
physicians for outpatient surgeries for bladder cancer have led to a
dramatic rise in the number of these procedures being performed and an
overall increase in cost to the healthcare system. That is the
conclusion of a new study published early online in Cancer, a
peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society. The findings
indicate that some Medicare policies aimed at decreasing costs may
instead be contributing to an increase in healthcare expenditures.
Read more...
Senior, Physician, Military Groups Urge Fix to
Medicare’s Annual Crisis in Physician Pay
Almost yearly physician’s face mandated cut in pay
that is then reversed by Congress
Jan. 25, 2010 - Focusing on looming Medicare
physician cuts of 21 percent scheduled to begin on March 1, the American
Medical Association (AMA), AARP and the Military Officers Association of
America (MOAA) have joined together in an “unprecedented” multi-state
event to urge a lasting fix to this annual crisis.
Read
more...
Medicare’s Coverage of Bariatric Surgery at
Certified Facilities Improved Results
Patients benefited from shorter length of stay,
lower complication rates, no significant change in hospital mortality
rates
>> Second study finds morbidly obese live longer with gastric
bypass (see below first story)
Jan. 18, 2010 – When Medicare decided to approve
coverage for bariatric weight-loss surgery, the agency also established
a requirement that senior citizens could only be treated at certified
institutions. The results have been better results and more minimally
invasive procedures, according to a report in the January issue of
Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Chubby Checker Making Senior Citizens Aware It’s
Easier to Get Help Paying for Medicare Drugs
The old twister joins Social Security in announcing
new “twist” in law making it easier to qualify for Extra Help with
Medicare prescription drug plan costs
Jan. 11, 2010 - The Social Security Administration
says there is a “new twist” that makes it easier for senior citizens to
qualify for extra help with Medicare prescription drug costs, and they
have the old twister – Chubby Checker – helping to spread the word.
Read more, see
video...
Medicare News
Health Care Spending at Historical Low Rate but
Still Grows Faster that U.S. Economy
‘Health care spending as a percentage of GDP is
rising at an unsustainable rate’
Jan. 5, 2010 – Health spending in the U.S. grew 4.4
percent in 2008 – the slowest growth rate since the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services started officially tracking expenditures in 1960 –
but a rate still much higher that the economic growth rate for the
national economy as measured by the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which
was just 2.6 percent. Health spending grew to $2.3 trillion or $7,681
per person.
Read more...
Medicare Drug News
Senior Citizens Struggle Under Worry, Danger, Cost
of Taking Multiple Medications
|
●
57% of seniors forget to take
medications
● 23%
neglected to fill a prescription on
time
● 40%
of seniors (taking 5 or more drugs regularly) are worried about their ability to afford their
medications
● 49%
of those enrolled in Medicare Part D would
like to know how to delay or avoid entering the Medicare Coverage Gap
(the “Donut Hole”)
|
New survey finds 25% of seniors take 10 to 19
pills daily, 60% on Medicare have taken some steps to avoid the donut
hole - Medco offers free help
Dec. 29, 2009 - America's seniors are being
overwhelmed by the number of prescription drugs they take on a daily
basis. According to a new national survey of more than 1,000 people ages
65 and older who use medications, more than half (51 percent) take at
least five different prescription drugs regularly and one in four take
between 10 and 19 pills each day.
Read
more...
Medicare Drug News
Medicare Patients Find Fight for Life Against Cancer
Unaffordable Due to Drugs Required
Extensive study finds cancer patients can fall in
drug program’s ‘donut hole’ almost immediately
By
Tucker Sutherland, editor & publisher,
SeniorJournal.com
Dec. 18, 2009 – Battling cancer in the U.S. is a
costly proposition, especially for the extremely expensive drugs
required to fight the disease, which causes many – even those on
Medicare - just to skip the treatment, according to an analysis of the
cost of obtaining these drugs in the U.S. and the U.K.
Read more...
Medicare Drug News
Costly Cancer Medications: Not Easy to Access or
Afford in U.K. or U.S. - Even with Medicare
For 7 of 11 expensive cancer drugs, British
patients pay no out-of-pocket costs; U.S. patients, even with Medicare,
pay out $1,200 to $24,000 – uninsured pay even more
By Amy Sutton, Contributing Writer, Health Behavior News Service
Dec. 18, 2009 - Cancer patients in both the United
States and the United Kingdom face challenges in gaining access to
expensive cancer treatments, according to research published in the December
issue of The Milbank Quarterly.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Homecare Group Sees Deep Flaws in Medicare Bidding
for Durable Medical Equipment
Association says problems not fixed and
not addressed by GAO study
Statement by the American Association for Homecare
Dec. 14, 2009 The American Association for Homecare
has worked with Congress and Medicare to address flaws in the
competitive bidding program for durable medical equipment, some of which
are discussed in a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report.
However, deep structural and design flaws still remain in this bidding
program. Those flaws will reduce seniors' access to quality care at home
and will put thousands of competitive homecare providers out of
business. Read
more...
Senior Citizen Politics
Democrats' Idea to Expand Medicare for Younger
Americans Raises Industry Hackles
Details
fluid but people aged 55 to 64 who were uninsured or could not afford
employer-sponsored health insurance would be allowed to enroll in Medicare
By
Julie Appleby and
Mary Agnes Carey, KHN Staff Writers
Dec. 9, 2009 - Hospitals, doctors and insurers are
mounting a full-blown attack on a proposal to allow people under 65 to
join Medicare – an idea that's gaining new momentum among Senate
Democrats as they scramble to pick up the 60 votes needed to pass the
sprawling health care legislation.
Read more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Seniors Often Reluctant To Switch Medicare Drug
Plans; Deadline for Change Nears
Many senior citizens facing
substantial price jumps in their current plans
By
Phil
Galewitz, KHN Staff Writer
Dec. 8, 2009 - Seniors have until the end
of the year to switch Medicare drug plans to get a better deal.
But many will pass up the chance to save hundreds of dollars a
year in prescription costs.
Read more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Days Running Short for Senior Citizens to Change
Medicare Drug Plan for 2010
Senior should check to see if their drug plans, or
their drug needs have changed
Dec. 7, 2009 - Maybe senior citizens have already
grown tired of searching for a new Medicare drug program each year. Or,
maybe most are satisfied that little is changing in the plan they have
or their needs. Not checking, while the window is open for making
changes, however, could be a costly mistake. Checking for options has
become much easier, as explained in the CBS video with this news report.
Read
more...watch video
Medicare News
Medicare Tightens Controls to Catch More Improper
Fee-for-Service Payments in 2009
Part of administration-wide strategy to eliminate
errors and prevent waste and fraud
Nov. 20, 2009 – HHS and CMS, the managers of the
Medicare program, announced this week it has taken actions to obtain
more complete information about errors so that the Agency can better
target improper payments in the Medicare fee-for-service (FFA) in 2009.
CMS has significantly revised and improved accounting in this program to
improve the identification of improper payments, according to the
announcement.
Read
more...
Medicare Urges Senior Citizens to Review Health
Plans as Window Opens to Make Changes
Annual period to make changes in Medicare coverage
opens Sunday, Nov. 15, runs through Dec. 31
Nov. 13, 2009 – This Sunday – November 15 – is the
first day of Medicare’s annual Open Enrollment period, when all people
with Medicare can review and, if necessary, change their current health
care coverage.
Read
more...
Experts Favor Medicare Reforms to Control Costs,
Foster Health Care Innovations
Opinion leaders voice support in survey for an
independent Medicare advisory council with broad authority; allowing HHS
to negotiate drug prices
Nov. 3, 2009 - A vast majority of leaders in health
care and health policy believe Medicare has been successful in providing
access to care and stable coverage to the elderly and disabled
individuals; however only a small percentage think the program has
realized its potential to achieve other important goals, like using its
leverage as the country's largest purchaser of services to control costs
and promote a high performance health system.
Read more...
Medicare Makes Expected Announcement that
Physicians’ Pay Will Be Cut 21 Percent in 2010
Also issues other policy updates adjusting pay for
hospital outpatient care, home health care
Nov. 2, 2009 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services issued several policy updates for 2010 late Friday that
included a two percent pay hike for home health care agencies and an
inflation-based boost of 2.1 percent in their payment rates for
outpatient departments. The big one, however, is a 21.2 percent pay cut
for doctors that will once again start the cries that this action will
cause even more doctors to stop treating Medicare patients.
Read more...
Suit Against Medicare, Social Security for Better
Service with Part D Payments is Settled
Goals were to improve processing for Part D premium
withholding, issuing refunds of premium amounts erroneously withheld,
and forwarding withheld premiums
Oct. 23, 2009 – A suit filed in 2007 by Medicare
beneficiaries against the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and
the Social Security Administration has been settled. One of the legal
teams that represented the beneficiaries, The Center for Medicare
Advocacy, says the Machado case was brought by beneficiaries who
experienced lengthy delays in having their Part D premiums accurately
withheld, or not withheld, from their Social Security benefits.
Read
more...
Senior Citizen Politics
GOP Defeat of Bill to Fix Problem in Medicare
Physician Pay Devastating to Doctors, Seniors
Doctors face 21% pay cut from Medicare in 2010; same
annual quandary Democrats tried to fix; senior citizens many find it
harder to get a doctor; AMA issues new list of states with problems
By
Tucker Sutherland, editor & publisher
SeniorJournal.com
Oct.
22, 2009 – An annual event for years has been the threat of a Medicare
pay cut for doctors, caused by an automatic
payment formula for physicians that takes in annual data and
spits out a demand that doctors’ pay must be cut. This is followed by
the physicians' lobbyists and medical associations rushing to
Washington, campaign cash in hand, to get the Congress to magically
transform the pay cut into a pay hike. - which they always do.
Read more...
Medicare News
Medicare Says Over 70 Percent of Senior Citizens
Will Not See Part B Increase in 2010
CMS lays out the fees and charges seniors will see
in 2010 for basic Medicare; mostly impacts those with higher incomes
| |
 Medicare
& You 2010 books are currently in distribution. Pdf copy
available online –
click. |
|
Oct. 21, 2009 – Senior citizens, many worried about
their economic fortunes in 2010, when they will not see their Social
Security benefit increase, are getting good news from Medicare - most
seniors covered by Medicare will not see an increase in their Part B
monthly premium. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS),
says this is due to a “hold
harmless” provision in the law.
Read
more...
H1N1 Flu Information for Seniors Prepared by CMS for
Medicare, Medicaid Beneficiaries
Medicare’s coverage of H1N1 flu vaccine and more
explained in Q&A below
Oct. 13, 2009 – Due to concerns among senior
citizens about H1N1 flu, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
(CMS) has opened a Web page with information specifically for people on
Medicare and Medicaid. The basic information is presented in a question
and answer presentation by Medicare, which appears below.
Read
more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Time for Senior Citizens to Review Medicare Drug
Coverage: Center for Medicare Advocacy
Changes cause beneficiaries to shoulder more of the
cost of their prescription drug coverage - private companies change
plans every year
By Center for Medicare Advocacy
Oct. 12, 2009 - In some parts of the country,
October brings changing leaves, but throughout the country, October also
brings information about changing Medicare prescription drug coverage.
While the October 1st announcement of the 2010 Prescription Drug Plans (PDPs)
and Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) continues to tout the wide array of offerings, the number
of plans that are available does not tell the entire story.
Read
more...
Medicare News
New Rules from CMS Toughen Requirements for Medicare
Drug and Health Plans
Says Part C & D revisions intended to improve
protections for enrollees, enhance transparency, clarify plan
requirements
Oct. 12, 2009 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) on Friday issued a proposed rule the agency says will
improve performance of prescription drug and health plans by
strengthening standards to participate in the Medicare program.
Read more...
Medicare Drug Plan News
Senior Citizens Facing Higher Medicare Drug Plan
Premiums May Seek Lower Cost Options
Marketing 2010 plans started October 1 and seniors
can start seeking better options for the open enrollment November 15
Oct. 8, 2009 – Medicare announced in August that
senior citizens are expected to face a 7 percent premium increase for
the average Part D prescription drug plan in 2010. The news is even
worse for some in Medicare Advantage plans that will see a premium jump
of almost 22 percent. With the open enrollment window opening on
November 15, and many seniors expected to seek less expensive options,
Medicare says choosing a new plan will be easier than in previous years.
Read
more...
Medicare Sends More Funding to SHIPs for Counseling
Seniors as Open Enrollment Nears
$6.3 million awarded to state-based information
programs to help people with Medicare
Oct. 7, 2009 – With Medicare’s annual Open
Enrollment period just weeks away, CMS has sent an additional $6.3
million to State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) to help
senior citizens and other beneficiaries get more information about their
Medicare health and prescription drug plan choices.
Read more...
Social Security News
House Passes Bill to Stop 2010 Increase in Medicare
Part B Costs, Helping Seniors Cope
| |
 Congresswoman Dina Titus,
Democrat from
Nevada’s Third District, spoke on the House floor on the
Medicare Premium Fairness Act, which she introduced. |
|
Action stops insurance increase for about 27% of
senior citizens, others protected already; Seniors won’t see COLA for
2010
Sept. 25, 2009 – Senior citizens may have a little
financial relief on the way in 2010 as they prepare to make ends meet
without a cost-of-living increase in their Social Security check. The
House of Representatives yesterday overwhelmingly approved a bill that
will prevent an increase in the Medicare Part B insurance by making $567
million available to pay the additional cost in 2010.
Read
more, see video...
Social Security News
House Gets Bill to Stop Medicare Part B Premium
Increase as Seniors Face No COLA in 2010
An increase in the Medicare premiums would
effectively reduce Social Security income for seniors
Sept. 24, 2009 – A bill sponsored by Rep. Dina
Titus, a Nevada Democrat, aimed at protecting senior citizens and
others with disabilities from increases in their 2010 Medicare Part B
premiums was introduced in the House of Representatives today, after
receiving a nod from the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce
Committees.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Patients, Women, Blacks Not Likely to be
Even Evaluated for Liver Transplants
62% of patients with commercial insurance were
evaluated compared to 4.7% with Medicare only
Aug. 31, 2009 – Older Americans depending on
Medicare for medical insurance are far less likely to be considered for
a liver transplant that people with private insurance. Others obviously
discriminated against in this process or women and black people,
according to a study from the University of Pittsburg School of
Medicine.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Opinions & Analysis
Would Americans Welcome Medicare if It Were Being
Proposed in 2009?
‘One of the ironies in all of this is that the
strongest critics of health care reform, and those most worried about
government involvement in health care, are seniors, who are satisfied
with their Medicare-provided health care’
By Andrew Kohut, President,
Pew Research Center
Aug. 26, 2009 - Many Americans are balking again at
the prospect of health care reform. This is surprising in light of how
much
priority the public gave health care as an issue during the
presidential campaign, and how critical it was of President Bush's
failure to act on this issue. But after a few months of hearing about
it, a number of recent polls find the public divided over the health
care proposals being considered on Capitol Hill.
Read
more...
Medicare Says Demonstration Projects Proving Paying
for Quality Health Care Pays Off
CMS’ goal is to transform Medicare from a passive
payer to an active purchaser of higher quality, more efficient health
care
Aug. 26, 2009 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) is pointing to several of their demonstration projects
and claiming they provide “strong evidence” that financial incentives
can increase the quality of care for Medicare patients and can reduce
the growth in Medicare expenditures. Read
more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Medicare Prescription Drug Program Has Exceeded
Expectations, Says New Study
'Most seniors now have prescription drug coverage
that allows them to buy drugs at a reasonable cost'
Aug. 24, 2009 - Although Medicare Part D – the
prescription drug program - generated confusion when it was introduced
in January 2006, the program has worked well for most seniors and is
comparable to other non-Medicare drug plans that cover large groups of
seniors, according to the report published in the August edition of the
American Journal of Managed Care.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Guided Care Program Could Save Medicare $15 Billion
a Year on Chronically Ill Seniors
Studies say Guided Care improves quality of patients' care, reduces family caregiver strain and improves
physicians' satisfaction with chronic care
Aug. 7, 2009 - The nation's sickest and most
expensive patients – senior citizens with chronic conditions - need
fewer health care resources and cost Medicare and insurers less when
they are closely supported by a nurse-physician primary care team that
tracks their health and offers regular support, according to a study by
researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Read more...
watch video on Guided Care
Senior Citizen Politics
Hospice Operators Happy with New CMS Pay for 2010
but Fear Cuts in Health Care Reform
Medicare hospice reimbursement cuts now spread out
over seven years, instead of just 2 years
Aug. 3, 2009 – A long running battle over the
compensation Medicare would pay for hospice care appeared to come to an
end last Thursday with the CMS announcement that payments will increase
by 1.4 percent in 2010. The National Hospice and Palliative Care
Organization said today that this brings some relief to hospice
providers but they still have concerns.
Read
more...
Regional
Differences In Medicare Spending
The data from the Center for
Medicaid and Medicare Services is a 5 percent sample of Medicare
spending for people over 65 years old and not enrolled in HMOs.
Launch Map
Display at Kaiser Health News. Graphic and text by The Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation. Source: The Dartmouth Atlas Project at
the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice.
|
Caregivers & Elder Care News
Medicare’s Nursing Home Web Site Attracts Lots of
Visitors - And Plenty of Debate
Nursing homes say the information, from homes as well
as from state inspection reports, misleads families and patients
By Elizabeth G. Olson
This story is a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and The
Washington Post
July 14, 2009 - When 81-year-old Sally Darr needed
nursing home care after injuring herself in a fall, her family turned to
a new federal rating system for help. The online tool uses
movie-review-style ratings - one to five stars - to compare homes based
on such measures as number of employees, state health inspection results
and how many hours of licensed nursing care are provided each day.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Spending Decreases for Glaucoma Surgery,
Yet Number of Procedures Increase
Further advances and application of new technologies
may moderate the cost of providing glaucoma care
July 14, 2009 – We have become accustomed to think
that advances in medicine mean higher costs, but that does not seem to
be the case with glaucoma. The number of glaucoma surgical procedures is
increasing but payments by Medicare for the treatment have been
decreasing, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of
Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Too Many Medicare Patients Dying, Returning to
Hospitals Within 30 Days: Data on Hospital Compare
Reducing rate of hospital readmissions to improve
quality, achieve savings are key components of President Obama’s health
care reform agenda
July 9, 2009 – New data was added today to the
Hospital Compare Website to focus national attention on the high rates
of readmission and death of Medicare patients. Today, about 20 percent
will be re-admitted to the hospital within a month after treatment and
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announcement says it
may indicate inadequate treatment on the first admission.
Read more...
Major Surgery Decisions No Longer Based on Patient’s
Age: May Lead Demise of Medicare
With Medicare running out of money, some suspect
there will have to be some form of rationing and wonder whether age is
the only - or even one of many - factors that should be used,
July 6, 2009 - When doctors decide whether or not
to go ahead with an expensive surgery, "age is no longer the deciding
factor, even for invasive treatment such as open-heart surgery,"
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Read
more...
Medicare can Cost More Than Seniors can Afford but
Help is Available for Low Income
Medicare Interactive explains how these programs
work, offers assistance
July 2, 2009 - While Medicare is a valuable
resource available to virtually all Americans once they turn 65, and to
many others who suffer with disabilities, it has costs like premiums,
deductibles and coinsurances that can add up and become very expensive.
If you have limited income, there are programs that may help with the
costs of Medicare.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Politics
President Obama Promises Doughnut Hole in Medicare
Drug Program Will Get Smaller
President says agreement has been worked out with
pharmaceutical industry for 50% discount
June 22, 2009 – President Barack Obama says he will
reduce the size of the infamous “doughnut hole” in Medicare Part D, the
Medicare prescription drug program, that has placed many senior citizens
in the position of not being able to buy prescribed medicines. He made
the announcement today and said an agreement had been reached over the
weekend with the pharmaceutical industry.
Read more...
Medicare Advisory Group Urges Change in Incentives
to Strengthen Program, Promote Quality Care
MedPAC report focuses on changing payment system
incentives to reward value, not volume
June 15, 2009 – The Medicare Payment Advisory
Commission (MedPAC) today recommended a change of incentives in the
Medicare payment systems to “strengthen the Medicare program and promote
quality care for Medicare beneficiaries.” It was in the June 2009 Report
to the Congress: Improving Incentives in the Medicare Program.
Read
more...
Will Cost of Arthritis Drugs Soon Be More than
Medicare, Senior Citizens Can Afford?
Insurance companies in Medicare Part D are shifting
more of cost to seniors, Medicare
June 2, 2009 – Certain drugs that are effective at
reducing symptoms and slowing progression of rheumatoid arthritis (RA),
a common condition for senior citizens, are so expensive they are
putting pressure on Medicare Part D plans and beneficiaries. Some
speculate that soon neither will be able to afford them.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Hospital Trust Headed for Deficit in 2017;
Trustees Say It is ‘Urgent Concern’
‘Should trouble anyone who is concerned about the
future of Medicare and health care in America,’ HHS Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius; Trustees summarize report in message to "the People"
May
12, 2009 – The projected exhaustion of Medicare’s Hospital Insurance
Trust Fund, which helps cover the cost of beneficiaries’ hospital stays
and related care, will occur two years earlier than projected last year
– in 2017, according to the Medicare Trustees’ report released today.
The trustees called it “an urgent concern,” and Health and Human
Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said it “should trouble anyone who
is concerned about the future of Medicare and health care in America.”
Read
more...
Senior Citizen Politics
Likely Options for National Healthcare Plan Taking
Shape in Senate Finance Committee
Senior citizens should not think the new plan will
leave Medicare and Medicaid untouched; Medicare Rights Center sees some
things it likes, and some it doesn't
| |
 President
Lyndon Johnson signs Medicare & Medicaid into law with Lady Bird
looking over his shoulder. July 30, 1965 |
|
By Tucker Sutherland, editor & publisher
SeniorJournal.com
May 12, 2009 – Senior citizens, with health
coverage from Medicare or Medicaid, should not think a new national
healthcare plan will not affect them, just because they are already
covered by a national health plan. The new plan that is finally approved
for all Americans will, most certainly, make changes to Medicare and
Medicaid, as we know them today. Probably the most substantive
discussions and proposals for the new healthcare plan are taking place
in the Senate Finance Committee.
Read more...
Medicare News
Senior Citizens Like Medicare More Than Younger
People Like Private Health Insurance
Medicare's strong consumer satisfaction suggests
that many under age 65 would choose a public health insurance option if
it were offered, says Commonwealth Fund
May 12, 2009 – Senior citizen Medicare
beneficiaries – those who have reached age 65 - are more satisfied with
their health care, and experience fewer problems accessing and paying
for care, than Americans with employer-sponsored insurance (ESI),
according to a study by Commonwealth Fund researchers published today on
the Health Affairs Website.
Read
more...
Medicare Advantage Plans to get $11.4 Billion in
Extra Pay for 2009, Up 34 Percent from 2008
Since introduced by Bush administration in 2004, MA
plans have been paid $43 billion extra: 13% more than fee-for-service
plans
May
4, 2009 - Private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will be paid $11.4
billion more in 2009 than what the same beneficiaries would have cost in
the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, according to a new
report released today by The Commonwealth Fund.
Read more...
Medicare Reducing Hospice Pay, Wants Mortality
Certification from Physicians
Pay adjustment will save Medicare $2.9 billion over
five years
April 28, 2009 - The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a proposed rule to update the
Medicare Hospice Wage Index for fiscal year (FY) 2010, which will result
in a decrease of about 1.1 percent in payments to hospices.
Read more...
Chronic Conditions, Cognitive Impairment Drive Time
Seniors Need Home Health Care
People are living longer, yet many are living with
one or more chronic diseases and a decline in cognitive ability, which
has major implications for home health care agencies
April 27, 2009 - Multiple chronic health conditions
and some degree of cognitive impairment are common among senior citizens
(age 65 and older) in Medicare home health care, and lead to longer
periods of home health care use. A new study from the VNSNY Center for
Home Care Policy & Research also finds that for each additional chronic
condition, there is an increase in the number of days that older adults
spend in home care.
Read more...
Study Finds Medicare Patients Get Different Care
than People with Private Insurance
Study of over 40,000 kidney cancer patients shows
insurance coverage affects quality of care - docs take Medicare
patients' kidney out
April 27, 2009 – Doctors are much more likely to
remove the kidney of a senior citizen covered by Medicare than they are
other kidney cancer patients that happened to be covered by private
insurance. A new study of over 40,000 cases shows the private insurance
patients more likely to receive kidney-sparing surgery as their
treatment of renal malignancy. Researchers say it shows the disparity in
quality care.
Read
more...
Racial, Socioeconomic Health Disparities Erased by
Medicare; U.S. Needs Universal Coverage
Improving the quality of care without improving
access to care does not seem to reduce gaps
April 21, 2009 - Obtaining Medicare coverage is
associated with significant reductions in racial, ethnic, and
socioeconomic health disparities in adults with diabetes and
cardiovascular disease according to a new Commonwealth Fund-supported
study in today’s Annals of Internal Medicine.
Read
more...
Medicare Holds Firm on Competitive Bidding Program
for Durable Medical Equipment
Lawmakers, private suppliers say competitive
bidding is not competitive and will put most out of business
April 20, 2009 – There is a battle raging between
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the companies that
manufacture and market equipment used by Medicare patients. CMS has
instituted a competitive bidding program that it says may save a billion
dollars. On the other side, the private companies – supported by many in
Congress - say 90 percent could go out of business due to the bidding
process. It is unclear how those who depend on Medicare will come out.
Read more...
Medicare Selects 14 Communities for Program to
Reduce Unnecessary Hospital Readmissions
Seeks seamless transitions from the hospital to home,
skilled nursing care, or home health care
April 14, 2009 – Data collected by the Centers of
Medicare & Medicaid Services indicates that many hospital readmissions
of Medicare patients are preventable and, yesterday, the agency
announced a program in 14 communities aimed at eliminating these
“unnecessary” hospital readmissions.
Read more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Senior Citizens Have an Appeal Process When
Medicare Drug Plan Fails to Cover Needed Drugs
Part D appeals process explained by Medicare
Interactive
April
13, 2009 - Many senior citizens that receive their drug
coverage from a Medicare private drug plan (Part D) have run into
difficulty obtaining insurance coverage for the drug they need. This
report from the Medicare Interactive newsletter by the Medicare Rights
Center advises seniors on how to handle the challenge and explains the
appeal process.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Drug Spending Jumped $38 Billion in First
Year of Prescription Drug Program
Medicaid’s share of the Medicare population’s drug
spending decreased from 15.5 percent to about 1 percent
April 8, 2009 – An interesting look at the change
in the pattern of prescription drug spending by senior citizens in 2006
– the year Medicare began prescription drug coverage under Medicare Part
D – was released today the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Medicare’s share of outpatient prescription medications increased by $38
billion over 2005.
Read more...
CMS Announces Medicare Advantage Payment Rate Cuts
of 4% to 4.5% in 2010
Low baseline rate results from a scheduled 21% cut
in Medicare physician pay rates for 2010; many expect Congress to
eliminate that cut
April 7, 2009 – The Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services (CMS)
on Monday announced cuts to Medicare Advantage payment rates in 2010 of
as much as 4% to 4.5%, the
Wall Street Journal
reports. The agency had
estimated a 5% rate cut in February. According to
CQ HealthBeat, the reductions include the elimination of costs
related to funding teaching hospitals and differences in coding between
private health plans and traditional Medicare.
Read more...
Better Hospital Performance Could Have Saved 22,771
Medicare Patients in 2005-07: HealthGrades
Dangerous safety event struck a Medicare patient
every 1.7 minutes in U.S. hospitals
April 7, 2009 – Tending to dangerous situations or
“safety events” has kept many hospitals busy, according to a new study
from HealthGrades, which finds that one such incident occurred for a
Medicare patient every 1.7 minutes between 2005 and 2007. HealthGrades
says 22,771 Medicare deaths could have been avoided if all hospitals
performed at the level of the 2009 Patient Safety Excellence Award
hospitals named today.
Read more...
Medicare Expands Coverage of PET Scans Based on
Evidence Development Project
Shows pet scans as “reasonable and necessary” for
initial treatment decisions of most solid tumor cancers
April 6, 2009 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) today issued a final national coverage determination (NCD)
to expand coverage for initial testing with positron emission tomography
(PET) scan for Medicare beneficiaries who are diagnosed with and treated
for most solid tumor cancers.
Read more...
Medicare to Boost Communications with Senior
Citizens with $36 Million to States
Funding is first installment of federal grant funds
provided to SHIPs by CMS for the grant year that began April 1; up 19%
from last year
April 5, 2009 - Grants of $35.8 million in funding
is being distributed to the 54 State Health Insurance Assistance
Programs (SHIPs) to help people with Medicare get more information about
their health care choices. This is almost 20 percent more than last
year's initial funding of $30 million.
Read more...
Half of Medicare Patients Rehospitalized Without
Seeing Doctor After Discharge; 20% Return in 30 Days
Total cost of unplanned hospital readmission
exceeds $17 billion annually, vary widely across states
April 1, 2009 - One of five Medicare beneficiaries
discharged from the hospital is readmitted within 30 days, and half of
non-surgical patients are readmitted to the hospital without having seen
an outpatient doctor in follow-up, according to a Commonwealth
Fund-supported study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine.
Read
more...
CMS Sees Too Many Medicare Advantage and Drug Plans
with Too Few Enrollees, Wants Cuts
Twenty-seven percent of Advantage plans have fewer
than 10 enrollees and agency will mandate changes
March 30, 2009 - There are too many Medicare
Advantage and Medicare prescription drug plans, which clouds the choices
senior citizens must make. Twenty-seven percent of Medicare Advantage
plans have fewer than 10 enrollees and the Centers of Medicare &
Medicaid Services under the Obama administration says things are going
to change. Read
more...
Will Pay Incentives Improve Nursing Home Care?
Medicare to Test the Concept
Nursing homes in Arizona, Mississippi, New York and
Wisconsin asked to join
March 30, 2009 - Medicare officials on Friday
announced a new, four-state demonstration to determine if cash
incentives will improve the quality of care and efficiency of operations
in nursing homes. Nursing homes in Arizona, Mississippi, New York and
Wisconsin will be asked to participate.
Read more...
Last Chance to Change Medicare Health Plans Before
You are Locked-In on April 1
This special open enrollment period has
restrictions and opportunities every senior citizen should know
March 18, 2009 - People with Medicare have one last
chance to change their Medicare health plan before they are locked into
their plan for the rest of the calendar year. During this special Open Enrollment Period, which
began January 1 and lasts through March 31, people with Medicare are
allowed to change their choice of Medicare health coverage once.
Read
more...
What Happens to Your Company Insurance When You Join
Medicare?
You may be wondering if it is beneficial for you to
keep your retiree plan
By Medicare Rights Center
March
17, 2009 - Once you turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare,
insurance you get from a past job ("retiree insurance") always pays
after Medicare. It acts as supplemental insurance, and may fill many of
the gaps in Original Medicare's coverage, such as deductibles and
coinsurance. It may also pay for some health care Medicare does not
cover such as vision and dental coverage.
Read
more...
Tests for Obstructive Sleep Apnea to be Covered by
Medicare
OSA is diagnosed by counting the apnea episodes or
breathing disturbances during a specific time span
March 4, 2009 – Medicare said yesterday that a new
policy will allow coverage of specified sleep tests used to confirm a
diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common form of
sleep apnea. The Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services says this will apply to patients who have clinical signs
and symptoms of OSA.
Read more...
Advocacy Group Wants Overhaul of How Medicare
Communicates with Senior Citizens
Medicare Rights Center sends proposal to new Health
& Human Services Secretary
March 3, 2009 – When the new nominee for Health &
Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, first sits down at her new
desk she will probably find a new proposal to make sweeping changes to
the counseling and consumer education programs of the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Medicare Rights Center, a national
consumer service organization, made their recommendations public today.
Read more...
Hospice Group Concerned About Proposal for More
Restrictive Medicare Payment Rules
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC)
objects to how hospice payments determined
March 2, 2009 – The National Hospice and Palliative
Care Organization (NHPCO) cautions that changes in the way Medicare pays
for hospice services, as recommended Friday by the Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission (MedPAC), are “dramatic changes to the hospice
benefit from established patterns of reimbursement” and “are sure to
produce displacements and unintended negative consequences.”
Read more...
Medicare Advisory
Commission Puts Pressure on Providers
to Constrain Costs, Improve Quality
Report to Congress again emphasizes Medicare’s
payment system for private fee-for-service plans is seriously flawed;
wants significant cuts to home healthcare providers (payments cuts of
5.5% next year), hospice end-of-life care, medical imaging services and
Medicare Advantage insurance plans; does suggest a 1.1 percent hike for
doctors but more transparency.
March 2, 2009 – The annual Medicare Payment
Advisory Commission’s report to congress makes a serious stab at
recommendations to slow the spiraling costs that threaten the Medicare
programs viability, but the industries being pricked are fighting back.
In a press release released with the report on Friday, MedPAC’s chairman
says the government must not look at the costs of providers as
unchangeable but should realize the pricing is influenced by how
providers are paid.
Read more including fact sheet with specific recommendations...
Medicare News
CMS Says Health Expenditures Will Jump 5.5 Percent
in 2009 as National Economy Shrinks
Prescription drug spending will lead Medicare
spending into the future
Feb. 24, 2009 – The U.S. economy may be sinking but
health expenditures are growing right along, according to a report by
the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. When the final numbers are
tallied for 2008, health spending will hit $2.4 trillion, up 6.1
percent. This year CMS sees health expenditures jumping 5.5 percent,
while the gross domestic product shrinks .2 percent. Prescription drug
spending will pace Medicare’s growth.
Read more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Medicare Drug Program Price Increases to Slow for
2010, According to New CMS Data
Medicare-PartD.com releases
projections and 2010 PDP-Planner to
give seniors head start on next year
Feb. 22, 2009 – The Medicare Part D prescription
drug plan will cost senior citizens more in 2010, but the increase will
be considerably less than past years, according to the private website,
Medicare-PartD.com, which says the projection is based on information
recently released by the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Read
more...
Medicare News
One-Year Moratorium on Cuts in Medicare Hospice
Funding Passed in Stimulus Bill
Hospice advocates have been trying to overturn 2008
regulation by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reduce
funding
Feb. 20, 2009 - The nation’s hospice community
claimed a significant victory this week when President Barack Obama
signed the stimulus bill into law. It includes a one-year moratorium on
cuts in Medicare funding for the more than 4,700 hospice programs
nationwide.
Read more...
Seniors Still Have Chance to Change Their Medicare
Health Coverage for 2009
Enrollment period through March 31 allows change in
health coverage but you cannot add or drop drug plan
Feb.
16, 2009 – Many senior citizens think they are now locked into their
current Medicare health coverage for 2009, but, there is actually there
is still time to make a change, according to the Medicare Interactive
newsletter.
Read
more...
Medicare’s Coordinated Care Projects for Seniors
with Chronic Illness Produce Few Benefits
Researchers see potential exists for care
coordination interventions to be cost-neutral and to improve patients'
well-being
Feb. 11, 2009 - Only 2 of 15 Medicare programs
designed to improve care and costs for patients with chronic illnesses
resulted in reduced hospital admissions, and none of the programs
generated net savings, according to a study. But, the researchers did
find hope for a program that will improve care without increased costs.
Read
more...
Medicare Drug Program News
Senior Citizens Who Fall into Medicare Drug
Program’s Donut Hole Decrease Use of Meds
Raises concerns about health, increased costs of
healthcare; authors suggest policy change to mandate the coverage of
generic drugs through modest increase in co-pays
Feb. 3, 2009 – Senior citizens enrolled in Medicare
Part D who reached the gap in prescription drug coverage known as the
"donut hole" were much less likely to continue their prescription drugs
than those with an employer-based plan, according to a University of
Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health study.
Senior Citizen Alerts.
Read more...
Change in How Medicare Approves Cancer Drugs Spurs
Controversy, Newspapers Report
New guides consider more drugs effective for more
cancers than the previous guide
Jan. 27, 2009 - A November 2008 change in Medicare
policy, which expanded coverage of drugs for off-label uses to treat
cancer patients, "has sparked questions about rising health care costs
and the influence of drugmakers," the
Wall Street Journal reports. The new rule expanded from one to four
the number of guides -- also known as compendiums -- on which Medicare
relies to authorize a drug for use on a certain form of cancer.
Read
more..
Medicare Patients Reduce Death Risk 27 Percent by
Going to Top-Rated Hospitals
HealthGrades annual hospital survey says quality
gap results in 152,666 potentially preventable deaths 2005-07
Jan. 27, 2009 - Medicare patients treated at
top-rated hospitals nationwide across the most common Medicare diagnoses
and procedures are 27 percent less likely to die, on average, than those
admitted to all other hospitals, according to a study released today by
HealthGrades, the leading independent healthcare ratings organization.
Patients who undergo surgery at these high-performing hospitals also
have an average eight percent lower risk of complications during their
stay.
Read more...
Improvements in Highly Successful Pap Test for
Cervical Cancer Pushed by Medicare
Medicare paid approximately $34.2 million for over
a million screening Pap tests in 2007
Jan. 19, 2009 – What is one the most successful
screening test ever adopted and one the first to be covered by Medicare,
the Pap test for cervical cancer may become even more effective with
regulatory changes aimed at assuring the competency of those conducting
the test.
Read more..
Medicare Moves Closer to Stop Paying for Surgical
Mistakes Over Physician Objections
CMS issues national coverage determinations on
wrong procedure, wrong body part and wrong patient
Jan. 19, 2009 – The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services moved forward last week on its plan to refuse payment for
certain serious, preventable medical errors – like a doctor cutting off
the wrong leg of a patient - but there is little support from physician
groups. The American Medical Association is basing its opposition on a
technical question.
Read
more...
Economic Crisis May Break Medicare by 2016, Three
Years Earlier than Last Forecast
CMS announces programs to reduce costs of Medicare
Fee-For-Service plan, hopes to influence health care reform
Jan. 19, 2009 – In a news release announcing
efforts to reduce costs in the Medicare Fee-For-Service Program, the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says the current economic
crisis could cause the primary trust that funds Medicare to go broke in
just seven years, according to Medicare’s chief actuary.
Read more...
Medicare Advocacy Groups Join to Blast CMS for
Promoting Private Advantage Plans
Organizations says it is “last-ditch effort” to
privatize Medicare by Bush administration
Jan. 12, 2009 – Some of the leading advocates for
Medicare beneficiaries have joined together to condemn actions by the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which they think are designed
to “assure continued leniency in the oversight of private plans for at
least another year and as a last-ditch effort to promote private
Medicare Advantage plans.”
Read more...
CMS Declares Success in Hospital Program to Report
on Quality Measures
Seven elements measured were aimed at heart attack
and surgical care
Jan. 8, 2009 – More than 3,000 U.S. hospitals will
receive the full payment update for 2009 as part of the new Hospital
Outpatient Quality Data Reporting Program, which required reporting in
2008 on seven quality measures that are elements of high-quality heart
attack and surgical care, according The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS).
Read
more...
Window Shuts on December 31 for Making Changes in
Medicare Coverage
New window opens January 1 for changes in Medicare
Advantage plans
Dec. 29, 2008 – Attention last minute shoppers, the
window for making changes to your Medicare prescription drug and health
care coverage is about to slam shut. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services closes this opportunity at the end of the day on December 31.
Read more...
Quality Rating Stars are Posted on Nursing Home
Compare Website by CMS
Some nursing homes may not like their ratings but
site gets support of aging committee chair
Dec. 22, 2008 - For the first time in history, the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released quality ratings for each
of the nation’s 15,800 nursing homes that participate in Medicare or
Medicaid. Although some nursing homes were unhappy with their ratings,
Sen. Herb Kohl, chair of the Senate’s committee on aging, gave it a
thumbs up and said he believes it will motivate the nursing homes to
provide the best possible care.
Read
more...
GOA Questions Unexpected Charges to Senior Citizens
by Medicare Advantage Plans
Problems with fee-for-service plans denying charges,
high charge for disenrollment
Dec. 17, 2008 – The timing may not be good – or
maybe it is – but the Government Accountability Office has raised
questions about unexpected costs senior citizens have faced with
Medicare Advantage Programs because of coverage denials and
disenrollment changes. The timing of the report is important because
this is the open enrollment period for Medicare, when seniors can change
the plans they use for service.
Read
more...
More Enhanced Online Tools by Insurance Broker to
Help Seniors Select Medicare Plans
Health Plan One says it has also added more
information on types of Medicare health insurance available
Dec. 15, 2008 – Joining the growing list of
insurance marketers to provide enhanced online tools to help senior
citizens find the Medicare plans that best suit their needs is Health
Plan One. The company says it also expanded its education section to
provide more detailed information on the types of Medicare health
insurance plans available.
Read
more...
Senior Citizens Who Never Signed Up for Medicare
Part B have New Chance January 1
Part B, one of four Medicare parts, covers some
medical expenses not covered by Part A - doctors’ fees,
outpatient hospital visits, and other medical services and supplies
By Oscar Garcia,
Social Security Administration
Dec.
15, 2008 - If you are eligible for Medicare Part B medical insurance,
but you didn’t sign up for it when you first became eligible for
Medicare, you will have another opportunity to apply. Open season
for Medicare Part B runs from January 1 until March 31, 2009.
Read more...
Medicare Proposes Payment Rules to Protect Senior
Citizens from Three Never Events
CMS asks for comments on three National Coverage
Determinations about preventable surgical errors
Dec. 3, 2008 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) proposed yesterday three national coverage determinations
(NCDs) to establish uniform national policies that will prevent Medicare
from paying for certain serious, preventable errors in medical care. The
following errors, called “Never Events,” being focused on by Medicare
through the NCDs are identified in the National Quality Forum’s (NQF’s)
list of Serious Reportable Events...
Read
more...
Medicare Advantage Plans
Muddy the Water, Do Not Improve Care but Cost More, New Studies Find
Three studies in
Health Affairs today question the
benefits for senior citizens from MA Plans
Nov. 24, 2008 – The private Medicare Advantage
plans have been under heavy fire from Democrats and president-elect
Barack Obama for the extra cost the government pays for them over
traditional Medicare coverage. Now, a series of three reports in
Health Affairs finds the extra cost of the MAs have provided senior
citizens more alternative ways to receive Medicare benefits, but they
have also created more complexity, while generating negligible gains in
quality.
Read
more...
|
When can you
change Medicare drug and health plans?
Dear Marci,
I am unhappy with my current Medicare private health plan
because it does not cover my medicines. When I tried to change
plans, I was told that I could not change until November 15th.
Why is this?
Read Marci's answer - click
here |
Medicare/Medicaid News
Medicare Upgrades Dialysis Facility Compare Website
for Better Comparisons by Seniors
Adds two quality measures showing how well
dialysis patients are treated for anemia, information to help seniors
better understand facility survival rates
Nov. 21, 2008 – The Dialysis Facility Compare
consumer Website created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
has been upgraded to include two new quality measures that demonstrate
how well dialysis patients are treated for anemia (low red blood cell
count) as well as updated information that will help patients better
understand survival rates by facility.
Read more...
Medicare Will Not Pay for Bariatric Surgery to Treat
Diabetes Unless Patient Hits BMI of 35
CMS seeks comments on this revision of the bariatric
surgery coverage
Nov. 17, 2008 – Medicare will draw the line at a
body-mass index (BMI) of 35 to determine if a senior citizen is morbidly
obese and qualified to receive coverage for bariatric surgery as a
treatment for beneficiaries with type 2 (or non-insulin-dependent)
diabetes, according to an announcement today by the Centers for Medicare
& Medicaid Services (CMS).
Read
more...
Finance Chair Sen. Baucus Introduces Health Care
Plan Involving Medicare, Medicaid
After a year of preparation by panel, Senator’s “Call
to Action” details policy options, goals for reform; draws backing of
Center for Medicare Advocacy
Nov. 14, 2008 – Health care reform has not been a
high priority for many senior citizens, since they are already covered
by government plans - Medicare and/or Medicaid. A new plan introduced by
one of the most powerful members of the U.S. Senate would have some
impact on these programs, however, and seniors should stay informed.
Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Selects Four Companies to Help Seniors
Store Personal Health Records Online
‘It will provide information and tools that will
empower consumers to manage their health better:’ HHS Secretary Mike
Leavitt.
Nov. 12, 2008 – Medicare moved a step closer to
it’s goal of providing senior citizens the opportunity to maintain their
health records online by selecting four personal health record (PHR)
companies to participate in the test run of the program. The Medicare
PHR Choice Pilot program will include seniors in Arizona and Utah.
Read
more...
Medicare Tightens Compensation Rules for Selling
Medicare Advantage, Drug Plans
Industry spokesperson commends CMS on guidelines
for agent and broker commissions
Nov. 11, 2008 - Still trying to cure the problems
in the marketing of the private company Medicare Advantage plans, the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) yesterday issued revised
requirements limiting compensation for sales agents and brokers who sell
MAs and prescription drug benefit plan options to people with Medicare.
Read more...
New Effort Launched to Help Hispanic Senior Citizens
Self-Manage their Diabetes
About 18% of seniors on Medicare have diabetes;
Hispanic are four times more likely to be hospitalized due to
uncontrolled diabetes.
| |
By 2050, Hispanics will be the
fastest growing population in the 65 and over age group,
reaching 15 million, and will likely double that figure for
those age 50 and over. |
|
Nov. 7, 2008 – Focusing on Hispanic senior citizens
with diabetes and covered by Medicare, a new effort between the American
Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Patient Education Research Center at
the Stanford University School of Medicine was announced yesterday by
Health and Human Services (HHS). Their goal is to increase the number of
diabetes self-management training programs (DSMT) in the U.S. for
Hispanics and others.
Read more...
Medicare Bumps Pay to Physicians that E-Prescribe;
Cuts Hospital Pay for Injury to Outpatients
Physicians in both the
e-prescribing and PQRI initiatives would receive a 5.1% bonus in
Medicare payments next year
Nov. 3, 2008 -
CMS on Friday confirmed details of an electronic prescribing
incentive program for physicians, scheduled to begin on Jan. 1, 2009,
which would increase Medicare payments for doctors who use the
technology, the
Dallas Morning News reports.
Read more...
Extra Payments to Private Fee-for-Service Medicare
Advantage Plans to Reach $2.5B in 2008
Medicare Advantage Plans proving costly to government
compared to traditional Medicare - early report found all MA plans cost
extra $8.5B
Oct. 21, 2008 - Private fee-for-service (PFFS)
Medicare Advantage plans will be paid an average 16.6 percent more in
2008 compared to what the same enrollees would have cost in the
traditional Medicare fee-for-service program, according to a new report
from The Commonwealth Fund. Although Congress made significant revisions
to policies that affect how PFFS plans operate in 2011 and thereafter,
the legislation is expected to slow enrollment in PFFS plans but not
stop the overpayment for each enrollee.
Read
more...
Free Flu Shots Just One of the Preventive Services
Covered by Medicare
Medicare Rights Center offers free one-on-one
counseling over the phone about Medicare's preventive services
Oct.
15, 2008 - Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, may not
seem like a dangerous disease, but every year about 20,000 Americans die
because of it. People at high risk for complications from influenza -
most senior citizens with Medicare - should get a flu vaccine.
Read more...
Choosing the Right Hospital Increases Chance of
Survival by 70 Percent Says Annual Study
HealthGrades releases annual study; 41 million
patient records examined; national mortality rate improves
Oct. 14, 2008 – It is a headline that gets the
attention of senior citizens – “Death rate 70% lower at top-rated
hospitals” – since they are the heaviest users of hospital services. This
news is from one of the leading healthcare ratings organizations, HealthGrades, that today released its eleventh annual study of hospital
quality in America. It, along with Medicare, have become leaders in
grading hospital care.
Read
more...
Incentive Pay for Using E-Prescribing is Focus of
CMS National Conference Today
Electronic prescribing of prescriptions could save
thousands of senior citizens from medication errors
Oct. 7, 2008 – E-prescribing, which has the
potential to save thousands of senior citizens from medication errors,
received a big boost today as 1,400 health care professionals and
industry leaders convened in Boston at the National E‑prescribing
Conference hosted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
Read more...
Screening for Colorectal Cancer in Younger
People Could
Save Millions for Medicare
May be example of how national health
plan could return some savings in Medicare; two other studies find
new technologies improve detection of polyps
Oct.
6, 2008 - The idea of a national health plan, now being debated in the
presidential election, is primarily seen as added government cost, but a
recent study indicates there may also be millions of dollars in savings
to the existing government health insurance program for senior citizens
– Medicare. A new study finds a screening program for colon cancer in
patients starting ten years prior to Medicare eligibility, at age 55
instead of Medicare’s 65, would save at least two dollars for every
dollar spent.
Read
more...
Medicare Getting Tougher on Fraud, Waste, Abuse and
Will Ask for Help from Seniors
New contractors to review paid claims for all
Medicare Part A and B providers to ensure claims meet statutory,
regulatory and policy regulations
Oct.
6, 2008 – After a successful demonstration project recovered over $900
million in overpayments by Medicare, the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services announced today a program it describes as
“aggressive new steps to find and prevent waste, fraud and abuse in
Medicare." And, you may be called on to help. Or, you may be questioned
by a new national recovery audit contractor.
Read
more...
Medicare Stops Paying Hospitals for Harming Patients
Starting
October
Non-Payment rules seek to spur hospitals to improve
patient safety
Oct. 1, 2008 - New federal regulations to restrict
Medicare payments to hospitals for the extra care required to treat
patients harmed by certain preventable infections and medical errors
that occur at the hospital go into effect today. The rules adopted by
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) aim to provide
hospitals with a financial incentive to improve patient care.
Read
more...
TRICARE Data Added to Medicare’s South Carolina Test
of Electronic Health Records
Beneficiaries with original Medicare and TRICARE
benefits can add TRICARE data to personal health records
Sept. 23, 2008 - Medicare’s test program that
enables Medicare beneficiaries in South Carolina to collect and then
access information about their health and health care services
electronically will be expanded to offer personal data from TRICARE, the
worldwide health care program for uniformed service members and their
families run by the Department of Defense. The information will be added
for those in Medicare who also receive TRICARE benefits.
Read more...
Medicare Will Not Increase Part B Monthly Premium
for 2009 But High Income Seniors to Pay More
Part A deductible for hospital care boosted $44 to
$1,068
Sept.
19, 2008 – While most of the country is worrying about the devastating
blows being suffered by the U.S. economy, senior citizens find something
to smile about in their financial outlook for 2009. Medicare announced
today the standard Medicare Part B monthly premium will stay the same
next year - $96.40 per month. This follows reports earlier this week by
SeniorJournal.com that the increase in the Social Security
cost-of-living adjustment could be around 6 percent. It wasn’t all good
news from Medicare, however – the highest income seniors will pay higher
rates on Part B and the Part A deductible for hospital care is jumping
to $1,068, $44 over 2008.
Read
more...
Cost of Hospital Care Jumped Most in 2006 for Those
With Least Resources: Uninsured
Total
cost jumped $70 billion in one year to $943 billion: Medicare, Medicaid
more than half
Sept. 18, 2008 – A new government report shows the
less money an American has the more his or her hospital charges jumped
between 2005 and 2006. Hospital charges – what patients are billed for
their rooms, nursing care, diagnostic tests and other services – jumped
from $873 billion in 2005 to $943 billion in 2006, according to the
latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and
Quality.
Read more...
Senate Bill Would End Practice of Placing Social
Security Numbers on Medicare Cards
Durbin, Bingaman, Kohl introduce bill to protect
Medicare card holders from identity theft
Sept. 17, 2008 – Congress may demand the government
removed Social Security numbers from Medicare identification cards and
communications to beneficiaries as part of the battle against identity
theft. Three Democrats introduced a bill in the Senate today to mandate
these changes, which have been recommended by the Social Security
Administration but ignored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services.
Read more...
Advertising by Insurers Favors Medicare Advantage
Over Stand-Alone Drug Plans
Kaiser analysis finds insurers spent more than twice
as much for Medicare Advantage than for stand-alone drug plan ads
Sept.
16, 2008 – As the marketing period for 2009 Medicare plans nears, a new
Kaiser Family Foundation study finds that insurers last year placed
three times more advertisements to promote Medicare Advantage plans than
they did to promote stand-alone Medicare drug plans. The Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services also issued new regulations today the add
new restrictions to insurance company marketing of Medicare Advantage
and drug plans. (See sidebar)
Read
more...
Medicare Follows Congressional Directions to Clamp
Down on Insurance Company Marketing
News rules aimed at protecting seniors from
‘deceptive or high-pressure marketing tactics’
Sept.
16, 2008 – There should be a lot more meat and a lot less sizzle in the
pitches tossed at senior citizens this year by insurance companies
selling Medicare prescription drug or Medicare Advantage plans. The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services yesterday released final
regulations – some mandated by Congress – aimed at protecting seniors
from “deceptive or high-pressure marketing tactics.”
Read more...
Senior Citizen Politics
Lawmakers Introduce Bill to Put Hold on Cut to
Medicare Hospice Reimbursement
National hospice group is also suing the Bush
dministration to stop cuts
Sept. 15, 2008 – A bi-partisan bill introduced in
the House and Senate has brought smiles to the faces of leaders of the
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). The bill
would prevent the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services from
implementing a rule for at least a year that reduces Medicare’s hospice
pay rates. The group has also sued the Bush Administration to stop the
cuts. Read
more...
Medicare News
Original Medicare or Medicare Private Health Plan?
Do You Have the Right One?
Open enrollment period allows senior citizens to
change their Medicare plan
By
Medicare Rights Center
Sept.
13, 2008 - Every year, between November 15 and March 31, everyone with
Medicare can change how they receive their Medicare benefits - to
Original Medicare or to one of the private health plans (also known as
“Medicare Advantage” plans). It is a good time to review your current
coverage and remind yourself of your coverage options.
Read more...
Senior Citizen Advocates Say Medicare Information
Phone Line Must Be Fixed
Thursday hearing of the
Senate Special Committee on Aging focuses on 1-800-Medicare
| |
Daily Reports
KaiserNetwork.org |
|
| |
Below news
report are links to testimony and video of hearing. |
|
Sept. 12, 2008 -
CMS has improved 1-800-Medicare, a toll-free telephone line that
beneficiaries can call for information on the prescription drug benefit,
but the agency needs to address some serious problems that remain before
the next annual enrollment period begins on Nov. 15, advocates for
seniors and lawmakers said on Thursday during a hearing of the
Senate Special Committee on Aging,
CQ HealthBeat reports.
Read
more...
CMS Funds States to Increase Awareness of Home-Based
Alternatives to Institutional Care
Discharge planning process will place greater
emphasis on involving patients and their families in after-care plans at
hospital discharge
Sept. 9, 2008 - Seven states today will receive a
share of over $8 million in federal grants to increase awareness of
home- and community-based long-term care options for people leaving
hospitals who otherwise may enter a traditional nursing home, Center for
Medicare & Medicaid Acting Administrator Kerry Weems announced.
Read more...
Hospice Group Sues Bush Administration to Stop Cut
in Medicare Payment
NHPCO says independent research shows hospice saves
Medicare money
Sept.
6, 2008 - The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
filed a lawsuit Friday to stop a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services' (CMS) rule that would cut Medicare reimbursement rates for
hospice and would irreparably damage hospice programs across the
country. The administration proposal, if enacted, would have a direct,
negative impact on care at the bedside for the nation's most vulnerable
populations, NHPCO contends.
Read more...
Medicare Advantage Plans Cost $8.5 Billion More than
Traditional Medicare in 2008
Extra payments pushed to $33 billion since 2004, will
remain significant even after payment reductions in new legislation
Sept.
5, 2008 - Private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans will be paid an average
12.4 percent more per enrollee in 2008 compared to what the same
enrollee would have cost in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service
program. The cost to Medicare, according to a new report from The
Commonwealth Fund, will be $8.5 billion in 2008, pushing the extra cost
from 2004 to $33 billion.
Read
more...
New Data Added to Government’s Hospital Compare
Website that is Already Booming
More than 2.5 million visitors per month attracted to
features like deaths by hospital and hospital care ratings by consumers
Aug. 20, 2008 - The Website maintained by the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to provide comparative hospital
information for consumers – Medicare beneficiaries and their caregivers
in particular - has been attracting over 2.5 million visitors per month,
but it is certain to get a big boost this week with the additional of
new information, including more information on death rates at each
hospital. Read
more...
Medicare Could Save Lives, Dollars by Providing
Seniors Nicotine Patches, Hotline
‘Nobody has paid attention to the elderly’ but older
people can benefit from quitting, even if they have smoked for decades
Aug.
18, 2008 - Medicare could possibly save the lives of many senior
citizens and save the government some money in health care costs by
providing nicotine patches and a telephone hotline to seniors who want
to quit smoking.
Read more...
Senior Citizens May Avoid Medicare Marketing Fraud
by Knowing the Rules
Medicare private plans must follow certain rules and
you should know what is allowed
Aug. 13, 2008 – With a huge market to exploit –
abut 36 million senior citizens on Medicare – the hucksters stay busy,
according to congressional reports. The Medicare Rights Center has
produced some tips for older Americans on the rules that must be
followed to market these plans. Sales people who violate these rules
should be suspect.
Read more...
Seniors Better Brush Up on Computers, Medicare to
Let Some Maintain Their Own Health Records
First seniors to try will be in CMS pilot program in
Arizona, Utah
Aug.
12, 2008 – Senior citizens better get onboard the move to accessing
information electronically. They may soon have electronic access to all
their Medicare records and be asked to play a more active role in their
own health care management. The first seniors to get a shot will be
those in Arizona and Utah, where the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services will run a pilot program.
Read more...
Medicare, Medicaid News
CMS Moving to Reduce Disastrous but Preventable
‘Never Events’ in Hospitals
Medicare. Medicaid expect to pay $4.75 billion to
acute care hospitals
Aug. 4, 2008 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) late last week announced it is taking several actions to
improve the quality of care in hospitals and reduce the number of “never
events” -- preventable medical errors that result in serious
consequences for the patient. Overall, the final rule is estimated to
increase Medicare payments to acute care hospitals by nearly $4.75
billion. Read
more...
Medicare News
Medicare Pays $36 Million to Doctors, Other Health
Professionals for Quality Reports
CMS says payments go to 56,700 health professionals
in Physician Quality Reporting Initiative
July
15, 2008 – Physicians that treat Medicare patients have been fighting in
Congress to prevent a cut in their pay, but many of them will share in
more than $36 million in bonus payments being paid by the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services to 56,700 health professionals for
reporting quality information to Medicare.
Read
more....
Senior Citizens that Bring Companions to Medical
Visits are More Satisfied with Care
Companions are a valuable quality of care resource
that could enhance the experience for millions of vulnerable Americans
July
14, 2008 – Almost two out of every five Medicare patients age 65 or
older appear for their medical visits accompanied by family members or
companions, which seems to contribute to a greater satisfaction with
their doctor and about everything else associated with the visit. The
report in today’s Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives
journals, says this is especially true among those in poor health.
Read more...
Medicare Ties 2009 Pay for Outpatient Services to
Quality Reporting
Amount beneficiaries pay for outpatient services will
decline to provide a gradual transition to 20% coinsurance
July
4, 2008 – Medicare has proposed a new rule increasing the pay rate for
hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers by three
percent for calendar year 2009, but, those that do not meet quality
reporting requirements will see that pay rate increase to just one
percent. It is the first time Medicare outpatient pay rates have been
associated with the quality of service.
Read more...
‘We now will hold all 16,000 nursing homes in the
nation to this standard.” CMS says
June
20, 2008 – Older nursing homes that have escaped modern regulations that
require wall-to-wall life-saving sprinkler systems to protect residents
from fire, will now have get the systems installed, if they want to
continue to serve Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries.
Read more...
June
19, 2008 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services today announced
it will soon launch a ground-breaking ranking system of America’s
nursing homes, giving each a “star” rating – one star up to five stars.
The ratings will be posted on the agency’s Nursing Home Compare Website
by the end of this year.
Read more...
June
6, 2008 – Senior citizens should find it easier to get help in learning
more about their Medicare health care and health insurance choices after
the State Health Insurance Assistance Programs receive the additional
$15 million promised today from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services.
Read more...
National Comprehensive Cancer Network Drugs &
Biologics Compendium is new source
June
5, 2008 – Senior citizen Medicare patients and their cancer care
providers will no longer use the American Medical Association Drug
Evaluations (AMA-DE) book to determine which drugs are covered under
Medicare Part B to treat patients undergoing chemotherapy. The Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services says it is no longer being updated and
the agency is switching to a new source to ensure the most
up-to-date information.
Read
more...
Seniors choosing hospice or palliative care have
right to participate in treatment plan and more
June
5, 2008 - Medicare beneficiaries with terminal illnesses have their
right to determine how they receive end-of-life care outlined for the
first time in a new regulation to be published today by the Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services.
Read
more...
‘Decreasing just one hospital day for each Medicare
beneficiary at the end of life could have saved millions of dollars’
June
5, 2008 – About six percent of the people in Medicare die every year.
Surprisingly, they use up about 30 percent of the money Medicare spends
each year. A new study has found that more visits by the primary care
physician in these final months will significantly lower this cost and
result in fewer deaths in hospitals.
Read more...
May 27, 2008 – Many senior citizens would be
surprised by the wide differences in per capita expenditures by Medicare
from area to area across the U.S. A new study has found, however, that
those Medicare beneficiaries in the lowest expenditure areas are just as
happy – if not more so – with their medical care as are those in the
high expenditures areas.
Read
more...
May
27, 2008 – Medicare used to be nice and simple, but it offered less.
Now, there are many options about how to obtain your medical insurance
through Medicare but many are still not well understood. In the analysis
below, ElderLawAnswers.com looks at the private fee-for-service plans.
Some advocacy groups think original Medicare is better.
Read more...
Enables CMS to use Medicare Part D claims data for
research, program oversight and evaluation, care coordination, quality
improvement, and performance measurement initiatives
May 22, 2008 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) will begin sharing data on prescription drug use to help
government agencies and academic researchers improve the safety, quality
and efficiency of health care services, while as part of this new
initiative launched by Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug
Administration will be more proactive in its surveillance of medical
products on the market.
Read more...
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ ads
highlight patient ratings for over 1,000 hospitals
May 20, 2008 – Fifty-eight daily newspapers in the
U.S. will be running advertisements tomorrow promoting the Hospital
Compare website managed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS). The ads provide scores from two of the 26 quality and patient
satisfaction measures on the Website for a sample of hospitals in the
community covered by each newspaper.
Read more...
May 8, 2008 - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMS) says in a news release today that it will propose new
regulations and new requirements for Medicare Advantage (MA) health
plans and Medicare prescription drug plans. The CMS statement says the
actions will provide "enhanced protections" for senior citizens enrolled
in these plans.
Read
more...
Adding 43 new quality measures on which hospitals
have to report data in order to receive full payment for services
April
15, 2008 - The screws are being significantly tightened to improve the
care of Medicare patients in the hospital and to save millions of
dollars for Medicare by not paying for certain conditions - such as
having the wrong leg cut off - that are caused in the hospital. The
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Monday proposed these
additional steps to strengthen this tie between the quality of care
provided to Medicare beneficiaries and payment for the services. Read
more...
CMS to pay 3.6% more to MA plans, drug deductible
goes to $295 from $275 in 2009
April 9, 2008 – The subsidy paid by Medicare to
Medicare Advantage Plans will increase by 2.6% next year, despite
consistent opposition by advocacy groups and Democrats to this subsidy,
according to an a Fast Sheet published by the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services on Monday. And, the drug plan providers also got a
small boost in the form of higher deductibles for prescription drug
plans next year.
Read more...
HealthGrades says 238,337 deaths preventable, top
hospitals have 43% lower incident rate
April 8, 2008 – Hospital safety incidents caused the
deaths of 270,491 Medicare patients during the years 2004 through 2006,
according to a new report from HealthGrades, which estimates 238,337 of
these deaths were potentially preventable. There were more than a million
safety incidents during the three years studied.
Read more...
New Jersey spent most, $59,379; North Dakota least,
$32,523; US average $46,412 - Kaiser Network Daily Report
April 7, 2008 - There is wide variation among the
U.S.'s top academic medical centers in spending on care for Medicare
beneficiaries with chronic conditions during the last two years of their
lives, according to the 2008 edition of The Dartmouth Atlas of Health
Care, the
New York Times reports.
Read more...
March 4, 2008 – Senior citizens should expect a
higher quality of care when receiving dialysis, according to an
announcement yesterday from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
(CMS), that it has released a final rule that will modernize the
Medicare conditions for coverage for the nation’s dialysis centers.
Read more...
March
31, 2008 – For the first time, Medicare consumers have the three
critical elements - quality information, patient satisfaction survey
information, and pricing information for specific procedures - they need
to make effective decisions about the quality and value of the health
care available to them through local hospitals, according to the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which announced changes to the Hospital
Compare Website, one of several by CMS to help consumers make
intelligent health care choices.
Read more...
‘We need to act quickly and effectively to address
Medicare’s fiscal health’ HHS Secretary
March 26, 2008 – As many have long known, Medicare
is under a great deal more financial stress than the Social Security
program, and this was confirmed yesterday by the annual report of the
Medicare Trustees that says Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust
Fund will become insolvent slightly earlier in 2019 than reported last year.
Read more...
Wall Street Journal looks at new types of fraud; CVS
pays millions for over-billing Medicaid
March 19, 2008 – The Wall Street Journal today
asserts that as the government shoves more Medicaid and Medicare
beneficiaries to private sector managed care plans, new types of fraud
are emerging. This report hits on the same day as the report that the
giant pharmacy chain CVS agreed to pay nearly $37 million to settle
claims that it fraudulently billed Medicaid. The WSJ also examined the
growing practice of hospitals to reuse medical devices that have
designated for one time use.
Read more...
Republicans want to cut Medicare, Medicaid;
Democrats want to expand VA health care, key report says traditional
Medicare more efficient than Medicare Advantage
March 12, 2008 – Republicans have introduced their
budget proposal for fiscal 2009, which calls for cuts to the critical
senior citizen programs of Medicare and Medicaid, but that was just the
hottest political move in Washington impacting health care for seniors
and veterans. A committee hearing heard a key report saying traditional
Medicare is a more efficient way of delivering benefits than Medicare
Advantage plans, which supports Democratic efforts to end government
subsidies to the MA plans. The comptroller general criticized the
government in an interview for not acting to secure the financial future
of the entitlement programs. KaiserNetwork.org also reports Democrats
trying to expand the veterans’ health care system.
Read
more...
'We’ve heard pledges and promises from this group
before,' he says to recent statement by insurance trade group
March 10, 2008 - Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) reacted
firmly to
the recent proposal from America’s Health Insurance Plans on reforming
the marketing of Medicare Advantage plans. “We can no longer wait for
these companies to clean up their act while seniors continue to be duped
and misled,” said the chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging.
Read more...
Medicare Advantage plans to cost Medicare extra $54
billion from 2009 to 2012, GAO reports
Feb. 29, 2008 - Private Medicare Advantage plans
can cost beneficiaries more than traditional Medicare for home health
care, nursing homes and certain hospital stays, according to a report
released on Thursday by the
Government Accountability Office, the
New York Times reports.
Read
more...
Increased use to double prescription drug spending as
prices go down, generics grow
Feb.
26, 2008 – The cost of health care in the U.S. is expected to continue to
outpace inflation and gobble up more of the nation’s gross domestic product
(GDP), according to an analysts by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services. The report published in Health Affairs says health care spending
will double by 2017, from last year, reaching $4.3 trillion. By 2017 it will
also be consuming 19.5 percent of the GDP.
Read more...
Feb. 25, 2008 – The number of senior citizens being
diagnosed with heart failure has declined over the last ten years. And,
the number of elderly that are living with this condition has increased,
which is, of course, bad news for Medicare which bears the cost of care.
Read more...
Breast cancer death rates for the two ethnic groups
used to be nearly identical
Feb. 19, 2008 - When Medicare began paying for
older women to undergo preventive mammograms in 1991, doctors expected
breast cancer mortality rates to drop. And, as expected, breast cancer
deaths did decrease, but new research has unveiled a discrepancy:
African-American women as a group do not benefit as much as white women.
Read more...
Feb. 12, 2008 – The financial viability of
Medicare, already badly strained, is rapidly getting worse as many local
governments, major corporations and others have learned they can shift
the cost of their retiree health care to the federal government. By
moving the retirees to Medicare Advantage they reduce their cost but
also increase the cost to senior citizens in traditional Medicare.
Read more...
Sen. Baucus says, ‘There are too many problems and
abuses.’
Feb. 8, 2008 – Fresh from a victory to get
low-income senior citizens included in the economic stimulus payments,
the Senate Finance Committee is looking at the marketing programs of the
Medicare Advantage Plans, which were supposed to have been corrected
last year.
Read more...
Since 1960 health care costs have grown 2.7
percentage points faster per year than the economy as a whole
Feb. 4, 2008 – There are two things that drive the
spiraling costs of the entitlement programs – Social Security, Medicare
and Medicaid – the aging population and the cost of health care. The
administration, in the new 2009 budget introduced today, presents a
brief but informational look at the two problems.
Read more...
Administration adds budget feature automatically reducing
payments when costs exceed 45% of funding
Feb.
4, 2008 – The 2009 budget submitted today by President Bush will reduce
Medicare spending by $556 billion over 10 years and more than $10
trillion over 75 years. Most of this will probably be paid for by
reduced payments to health care providers due a unique provision the
administration has included to require automatic annual reductions in
fees when funding no longer covers 55 percent of the costs.
Read
more...
Feb.
4, 2008 - Entitlement programs – short for Medicare, Medicaid and Social
Security – will see spending cuts of $208 billion over the next five years,
if the budget proposed today by President George W. Bush is approved. The
cuts in these programs that primarily affect senior citizens are even larger
than earlier estimates. The President, today, repeatedly laid the problem at
the feet of Congress, as he did in the State of the Union address.
Read more...
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission says extra fees
paid the Medicare Advantage fee-for-service plans should be cut
Jan. 31, 2008 – President Bush will release his
budget for ht 2009 fiscal year on Monday and it is expected to include
spending cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. He is not likely, however, to
take the suggestion of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission that
extra fees paid the Medicare Advantage fee-for-service plans be
cut. The Senate Finance Committee seemed to like that idea, too,
at a hearing yesterday.
Read more...
Cardiovascular clinical trial participants differ
in age, sex and country of residence
Jan. 30, 2008 – Despite the skyrocketing costs of
Medicare and the demand for informed decisions, Medicare is using
clinical trials with participants that do not match the characteristics
of beneficiaries to make decisions about cardiovascular products and
services. The trial participants differ in age, sex and country of
residence, according to a report in the January 28 issue of Archives of
Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Read more...
Jan. 21, 2008 - In the beginning Medicare was
pretty simple with few decisions required – no real challenge even for
an aging brain to understand, and a cost too low to worry about. That’s
not the case today. The Medicare program is fraught with complicated
decisions that can be costly, if a senior citizen makes the wrong
choice. Below is a brief explanation of the program and the costs for
2008 prepared by SeniorJournal.com and the Medicare Rights Center.
Read more...
ElderLawAnswers.com says Medicare covers "acute" care as opposed to
custodial care
Jan. 18, 2008 - Many people believe that Medicare
covers nursing home stays. In fact Medicare's coverage of nursing home
care is quite limited. Medicare covers up to 100 days of "skilled
nursing care" per illness, but there are a number of requirements that
must be met before the nursing home stay will be covered. The result of
these requirements is that Medicare recipients are often discharged from
a nursing home before they are ready.
Read more...
Jan. 16, 2008 - Ohio and Pennsylvania will join a
federal program created to increase the public’s awareness about the
importance of long-term care (LTC) planning. The “Own Your Future”
education effort includes information on various ways senior citizens
can finance long-term care, according to Health and Human Services (HHS).
Read more....
Jan. 8, 2008 - In 2006, U.S. health care
spending reached a total of $2.1 trillion, or $7,026 per person, up
from $6,649 per person in 2005, according to a report by the Centers
for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). The health care spending
growth accelerated slightly in 2006, increasing 6.7 percent compared
to 6.5 percent in 2005, which was the slowest rate of growth since
1999.
Read more...
Jan.
4, 2008 – Sometimes, after you picked the Medicare private health or
drug plan that you thought best suited your needs, you discover in the
New Year that the plan you chose doesn’t work for you at all. Perhaps
you’ll find that your doctor or specialist isn’t part of the plan’s
network. Maybe you’ll discover that there are large copays for a
hospital stay or diagnostic procedures. Or maybe when you go to the
pharmacy, you’ll find out that your drug plan doesn’t cover your
medications. Read
more...
