Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek
Advocate for Elders, People
with Disabilities
and Their Families
Below are links to helpful information about Medicare


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Articles and Information re: 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.

Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services Letter (Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group)
Official letter re: Savings Generated by Money Follows the Person Rebalancing Demonstration implementation

CMS Releases Interim Final Regs for Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans (Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.)
The primary matters addressed here are Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans and marketing rules relating to Medicare Advantage Plans and Prescription Drug Plans.

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.

Help with Medicare Prescription Drug Costs (Social Security Online)
Medicare beneficiaries are eligible for the extra help if they have limited income and resources. The extra help can increase their cost savings by paying for part of the monthly premiums, annual deductibles and prescription co-payments under the new prescription drug program.

Home Health Compare (Medicare.gov)
This tool provides you with information on how well the home health agencies in your area care for their patients.

Map of Nursing Homes in Michigan
This chart shows how many beds in a facility are certified for Medicare and Medicaid, but does not tell one how a particular bed in a nursing home in certified. For that information you need to contact the licensing officer. Following is a list of the licensing officers: Lansing Office: Timothy D. Smith (334-8404); Detroit Office: Cynthia Simmons (313-456-0350); Gaylord Office: Catherine Hunter (989-732-8062)

Major Changes in Both Medicaid and Medicare Affecting Your Clients (Sanford J. Mall, JD, CELA - Summer. 2007)
R
ecap 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.

Medicare & Medicaid (AGIS)
Discusses the differences between these complicated government programs.

MedicarePart D (GAO)
Complaint rates are declining, but operational and oversight challenges remain.

New Medicare Reporting Will Affect Tort Settlements (Lawyers USA - 9/8/08)
New Medicare reporting requirements for liability insurers will affect the settlement of personal injury and mass tort cases.

Resources on the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Kaiser Family Foundation - 10/08)
Key Foundation resources and data on the Medicare drug benefit are compiled here.

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!"

For news articles and information on the ever-growing problem of Medicaid/Medicare fraud, see Fraud page.
Recommended Books & Publications

Medicare Primer - The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
Lots of useful info about this social insurance program.

Medicare Prescription Drug Coverage Costs - What to do if you no longer automatically quality for extra help - (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services)
Getting "extra help" means Medicare will help pay your Medicare drug plan's monthly premium, deductible and copayments.

Organizations & Programs
Center for Medicare Advocacy, Inc.
A national non profit, non-partisan organization that provides education, advocacy and legal assistance to help older people and people with disabilities obtain Medicare and necessary health care.

National Health Law Program
A national public interest law firm that seeks to improve health care for America's working and unemployed poor, minorities, the elderly and people with disabilities.