Articles About Medicare « Medicare: « Benefits – Public

Articles About Medicare

• AARP Calls Medicare Bill "Woefully Inadequate" – AARP (Dec. 18, 2007)
  As Congress approaches the end of the legislative year, AARP issued statement on efforts to pass a package of Medicare improvements.
• A Case of the Medicare What Ifs (Huffington Post – 8/23/10)
  Today, on Medicare's 45th birthday, I want to reflect on what the program means for me. Typically, people think of Medicare as a program that matters only for seniors. It is nearly universally available to Americans age 65 and older and pays for health care both in the event of a hospital emergency and for routine care, depending on what a person can afford. But Medicare matters not just to seniors. Medicare matters to children, to young adults and to Baby Boomers.
• Answers to Your Medicare and FEHB Questions – (The Washington Post – 12/19/08)
  Info on the relationship between Medicare and private health insurance plans in the Federal Employee Health Benefit (FEHB).
• CMS Reveals Details of Rule to Tie Medicare Payments to Performance (Nurse.com – 1/10/11)
  The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a proposed rule Jan. 7 that would establish a value-based purchasing program for many acute care hospitals by 2013. The new program, a stipulation of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, would apply to hospitals that receive payment under the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System for inpatient services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Hospitals would receive value-based incentive payments beginning in 2013 based on their achievement or improvement on a set of clinical and patient experience quality care measures. According to a CMS news release, the goal of the program is “to foster improved clinical outcomes for hospital patients as well as improve how patients experience inpatient care.”
• Consumer Groups Say Medicare Agency Is Proposing The Wrong ApproachTo Protecting Drug Coverage For People With Low Incomes.
  Groups that advocate on behalf of people with Medicare filed comments telling the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that their approach to prevent certain Medicare beneficiaries from having to change their Medicare drug plans will not work.
• Elderly Medicare, Medicaid Patients Not Receiving Quality Care (Science Daily – Oct. 2007)
  If the care received by vulnerable older people concurrently enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid was evaluated on a grading scale, it would squeak by with a barely passing mark, a new UCLA study has found.
• Getting Medicare While Traveling or Living Overseas (Elder Law Answers – 4/26/10)
  Many retirees look forward to traveling in their retirement, and more and more are actually retiring overseas, in part as a way to stretch savings. But what happens to retirees' federal benefits while they are out of the country? The short answer is that although Social Security benefits are available to retirees in other countries, Medicare generally is not.
• Gray Matters: Medicare 2010 (Time Goes By blog)
  If you are of a certain age and participate in Medicare, you should have received your copy of Medicare And You 2010. And if you are like me, you’ve put it aside without reading it. Well, this year it would be a mistake not to look at the manual a bit more closely than usual.
• Make Sure You Aren't Losing Money on Choice of Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage, or Medigap Plan (GrampsCare blog – 3/14/09)
  You may be surprised by the differences in what the plans provide and what they may cost you. You may think you're saving a lot of money with one choice, but be totally unaware that your choice is costing you even more!
• Major Changes in Both Medicaid and Medicare Affecting Your Clients (Sanford J. Mall, JD, CELA – Summer. 2007)
  Recap of changes in law and policy that vastly affect basic health care, catastrophic medical, rehabilitation and long-term care for elders and persons with disabilities.
• Medicaid vs. Medicare (Disabled World – 10/11/10)
  Just like there’s confusion over the difference between SSDI and SSI, there’s confusion over the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. So, here in a nutshell, is the definition of each.
  Patti's Comment: If you have someone in the family with a disability of any age and your attorney cannot answer this question, get a new attorney!
• Medicare & Medicaid (AGIS)
  Discusses the differences between these complicated government programs.
• Medicare Advantage Part C (Money Alert)
  Medicare Part C (Medicare Advantage Plan) is the combination of Medicare Part A and B. Here's a look at the Part C basics.
  Patti's Comments: If you get some information like this on how to get a Medicare Advantage Plan, my advise is “JUST SAY NO”.. elder law attorneys and advocates are really struggling with securing appropriate services for our clients with this type of coverage.
• Medicare Part D: Crapshoot Coverage (Time Goes By – 10/14/09)
  On 15 November, the six-week enrollment period for 2010 Medicare Part D plans begins. It is not too soon to investigate the details of plans available in your state particularly because most insurance companies have increased premiums for next year and some have added deductibles.
• Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Finder (Medicare.gov)
  Personalized information about Medicare prescription drug plans and Medicare health plans.
• Medigap Insurance Helps Prepare for Health Care Cost During Retirement (Medigap Advisors)
  When turning 65, many people make the mistake of assuming Medicare will cover most or all of their health care costs when they retire, and that, if they need nursing home care, that Medicaid, the health care program for the poor, will cover them. However, neither program alone can guarantee a low-cost ride when it comes to paying for your medical expenses throughout retirement.
  Patti's Comments: This is a simple easy to understand what Medicare is and what it is not. Everyone that can afford to stay on traditional Medicare and purchase a gap policy should do so. We are seeing lots of problems for folks with Medicare Advantage Plans.
• MMSEA & The MSP – Confusion Reigns Supreme – Medicare, Medicaid & SCHIP Extension Act (MMSEA)
  Passage of Section 111 of the MMSEA and its reporting deadline of 7/1/09 has caused a tremendous amount of confusion among insurance professionals, lawyers and settlement planners alike. As a result of the MMSEA new discovery is being sought to assist insurers in complying with the reporting requirements. This article delves in the MMSEA briefly to explain what it is and what is required.
• Nearly 65? Time for the Medicare Maze (New York Times – 10/14/09)
  NOW that you’re about to retire, there’s good news and bad news about your health insurance. The good news: When you turn 65, you’re eligible for Medicare — all in all, a pretty affordable way to get coverage for doctor bills, hospitalizations and, more recently, prescription drugs. The bad news: You’ve got a big job ahead of you, sorting through the Medicare bureaucracy.
• Observation Services: What Can Beneficiaries and Advocates Do? (Center for Medicare Advocacy)
  Being in a hospital bed in a Medicare-participating hospital is no guarantee that a Medicare beneficiary is an inpatient. In our December 11, 2008 Alert, the Center for Medicare Advocacy described the increasingly common practice of placing Medicare beneficiaries in acute care hospital beds and calling them outpatients.
• One Million Seniors Get More Generous Prescription Drug Benefits (Kaiser Health News – 1/8/10)
  As of Jan. 1, more than 1 million low-income seniors "are newly eligible for more generous prescription drug benefits under the 'extra help' program" in Medicare.
• Prescription Drug Cost Relief to More than 750,000 Medicare Beneficiaries (US Dept. of Health & Human Services – 8/10/10)
  The third round of one-time, tax-free $250 rebate checks have been mailed to eligible Medicare beneficiaries whose drug costs are so high they have reached the Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage gap known as the “donut hole.”
• Studies Say Private Medicare Plans Have Added Costs, For Little Gain (New York Times – 11/24/08)
  Private health insurance plans, which serve nearly a fourth of all Medicare beneficiaries, have increased the cost and complexity of the program without any evidence of improving care, researchers say.
• Study Spotlights Growing Role of Medicare in Propping Up Nation's Medicaid Program – (EMaxHealth – Oct. 2007)
  New BDO Seidman study of the nation's Medicaid program draws much needed attention to a chronic and worsening problem: Medicare's cross-subsidization of increasingly inadequate Medicaid payments for nursing home care. Patti's note: "I could not agree more!"
• Take Advantage of New Changes to Programs that Help With Medicare Costs (Medical News Today – 1/12/10)
  Beginning in January, federal changes to Medicare Savings Programs (MSP) and Medicare's Low Income Subsidy ("Extra Help") mean a simplified application process and greater eligibility for these important programs.
• Take Discharage Planning Into Your Own Hands (Elder Law Answers Blog – 9/21/10)
  Did you know that one of five Medicare patients discharged from a hospital is readmitted within 30 days at a cost to Medicare of more than $17 billion a year?
• The Basics on Medicaid and Medicare (Good Article)
  The basics are described in this article. After reading through each program description, you will see how different and important Medicaid and Medicare are.
• Who's Responsible for Care After Stroke? (Post-Gazette Now – 3/31/09)
  With certain limitations and so long as the therapy meets the "reasonable and necessary" test, Medicare will generally pay for PT, OT and ST in the hospital, in a skilled nursing facility for up to 100 days, in the home setting under specific circumstances, and at special therapy facilities.
• You're Not in the Hospital. You're in Observation! (CMA Health Policy Consultants – 7/13/10)
  Medicare beneficiaries – although placed in hospital beds (often, from the emergency room) and given medications, tests, therapies, medical and nursing services, food, and a wrist-band – are told they aren’t in-patients; they’re just receiving observation services as outpatients. Patients often learn about their out-patient status just as they are leaving the hospital for the skilled nursing facility – which won’t be covered by the Medicare program because they weren’t in-patients for three consecutive days! For related article, see "Medicare Fraud Effort Gives Elderly Surprise Hospital Bills."