June 2009

• A June 9 Dallas Morning News piece entitled "Filling in the Medicare doughnut hole is a sticky issue" says AARP and other advocates for older adults are calling on Congress to get rid of the "doughnut hole" or coverage gap in Medicare's drug benefit as part of the lawmakers' broader efforts to reform health care. The gap in coverage forces beneficiaries to pay the full cost of their drugs. Eliminating it would probably reap savings for Medicare over the long run, since it would keep seniors on their prescriptions and out of the hospital, said Vicki Gottlich, a senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy.

May 2009

• A May Consumer Reports piece entitled "If you are on Medicare" provides readers with an overview of the difference between traditional Medicare and private plans. Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, says, "Medicare Advantage plans are not Medigap plans.  They are not on top of traditional Medicare; they are instead of traditional Medicare. If you enter a [so-called] Medicare Advantage plan, it's like joining any private managed-care plan."
   

• A May 25 Medical News Today piece entitled "Medicare: A Critical Element Of Health Care Reform" says a panel of senior advocates and health policy experts recently gathered on Capitol Hill to discuss current efforts to reform our national health care system and a growing consensus that Medicare should play a role in that debate. "Medicare beneficiaries frequently don't choose the plan that is the lowest cost because Part D is too complicated to analyze. We need to simplify Part D because it's just too difficult to make educated choices," said Vicki Gottlich, Senior Policy Attorney of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
   

• A May 25 commentary by Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, makes the case for a single payer health plan. The piece, which appears on the Neiman Watchdog Blog, says only a public health plan would reduce costs, guarantee choice of doctors and assure quality care for everyone—the requirements for a national health care plan as spelled out by President Obama.
   

• A May 24 Chicago Tribune piece entitled "Switching to Roth IRA isn't always wise" says that changes are coming to Medicare benefits received through some private plans, so experts urge participants not to wait for enrollment season this fall to learn what they'll need to do.  Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy says that so-called Medicare Advantage plans don’t necessarily offer better benefits than traditional Medicare.  The piece also ran on: WQAD, Illinois; 33 KDAF-TV, Dallas/Fort Worth; WHNT, Alabama; fox4kc.com, Kansas City; Allentown Morning Call, Allentown; and the Los Angeles Times.
   

• A May 20 Newsday piece asks, "What will universal health care look like?"  According to the piece, the AMA, AARP, Families USA, the drug companies and the insurance industry oppose a single, publicly financed, government health plan, although it's widely supported by the American people and health care professionals. As a fallback, some advocates – including the Center for Medicare Advocacy -- are calling for a strong Medicare-like public plan, saying, "It is essential that any health care package include a public health care plan. A public plan, standing alone or in combination with an offering of private plans, offers many benefits to the public ... A public plan means a plan that is available to all within the designated insured population, that is administered by the federal government."
   
• A May 12 South Florida Sun Sentinel piece entitled "Seniors to receive bonus Social Security payments" said that senior citizens living in nursing homes who are covered by Medicaid will receive a bonus $250 Social Security check this month thanks to the economic stimulus plan.  According to the article, the Center for Medicare Advocacy put out an alert about rules governing how the funds must be deposited. "We're worried that the money somehow won't end up transferred to the residents' personal accounts or if it does, they won't know it's there. We want to get the word out so people will know they may be getting the check and can ask about it," said senior policy attorney Toby Edelman.
   
• A May 11 Modern Healthcare article entitled "Three flee fee-for-service Medicare" says three health insurers will no longer offer so-called Medicare Advantage plans starting next year, indicating tighter federal regulations for these plans are causing insurers to rethink this line of business. Vicki Gottlich, senior policy attorney for the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said that she expects more insurers to opt out or convert their products.

April 2009

• An April 19 Washington Times op-ed by Center for Medicare Advocacy executive director Judith Stein, entitled "Improving Medicare to lower health care costs" reminds policymakers that Medicare, the country's only national health insurance, has a lot to teach about how best to provide health care coverage cost-effectively — and how not to. The piece says that for more than 40 years, until it was morphed into a system of expensive private plans in 2003, Medicare was a resoundingly successful public/private partnership. Stein offers tips on how policymakers can improve Medicare to help get the economy back on track.
  
  This piece was also picked up by Medical New Today and the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report.
   
• An April 18 Wall Street Journal article "Health Costs; Plan Changes Afoot" says changes are coming next year to private health plans offered to Medicare enrollees. According to the article, seniors covered by the so-called Medicare Advantage plans will likely see higher premiums or fewer benefits. In addition, private plans won’t be allowed to charge low-income, sick patients more than what they would pay under traditional Medicare. Consumer advocates welcome the changes. "The sense of hands-off is changed," says Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
   
• An April 16 Wall Street Journal article, "Health Plans: New Safeguards" says seniors will likely pay more for Medicare's private health plans next year, but new consumer protections could come with those plans.  Vicki Gottlich, a senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy, said, "There's a clear sense that CMS [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] wants to make sure that this program works, and that it works in the best interest of the consumers, rather than the plans."
   
• An April 13 article from the Eagle-Tribune, "Elderly used as front in letter-writing campaign" by Ken Johnson, exposes efforts by a marketing group to use seniors names without their knowledge to try to push Medicare private plans.  Center for Medicare Advocacy founder and executive director Judith Stein says says such use is "an outrage...It borders on being fraudulent. It calls into question the good will and intent of those Medicare plans that are launching such an effort."
   
• An April 6 article from American Medical News, "Medicare Advantage defenders decry proposed cuts" by Chris Silva discusses the proposed cuts to private Medicare plans.  Center for Medicare Advocacy founder and executive director Judith Stein says  "Medicare Advantage costs taxpayers billions of unnecessary dollars.  We should look instead to traditional Medicare, which balances a public program with a private claims-processing infrastructure."

March 2009

• A March 27 Sun Sentinel piece,  "Medicare recipients jump to new plans; many find drug costs increased dramatically" says Medicare recipients are switching prescription drug plans more than usual this year, partly because some seniors were shocked by big cost increases and decreased drug coverage that began Jan. 1.  According to the article, patient advocates would like to see much more switching. They said millions of seniors who could save money and get better coverage do not switch because they resist change, it takes effort and it can be confusing.  "People stay in plans that don't cover the drugs they take or the doctors they see," said Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
   
• A March 24 interview with Center Senior Policy Attorney Alfred Chiplin on ElderLaw Radio advises everyone who knows they'll be hospitalized to start preparing well in advance for whatever care they may need upon discharge. Attorney Chiplin can also be heard discussing Skilled Nursing facility Coverage. Listen at http://www.elderlawanswers.com/PodCast/PodCast.asp
   
• A March 21 Star Telegram piece "Watchdog: Haltom City woman, 71, fights back against Medicare" focuses on one woman’s year-long appeal to Medicare over a $1,400 bill for an ambulance ride to the hospital.  After being notified that Medicare wouldn’t pay the ambulance bill, she appealed and won.  "Good for her, because there’s not a lot of help out there for these appeals," says Judith Stein of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
   
• A March 18 column in the Hill, "Drug Benefit Urged in Health Reform", by Jeffrey Young, discusses the fact that many of the discussions regarding health care reform seem to be forgetting Medicare Part D's flaws and gaps.  Center attorney Vicki Gottlich says drug coverage should not be, and is not, forgotten.  "The advocacy community is stilling talking about improvements to Part D."
   
• A March 14 Newsday Column, "Gray Matters: Stimulus Package Gives Little to Seniors", by Saul Friedman breaks down the minimal benefits offered to moderate income seniors by the recent Stimulus efforts.  The article includes a breakdown of programs affected by federal poverty levels which was created by Center attorney Patricia Nemore.
   
• A March 11 U.S. News and World Report piece, "How to Choose the Right Nursing Home, Step by Step" includes advice from Center attorney Toby Edelman, who says that people should be cautious in evaluating publicly available data and advisors when choosing a nursing home.  "It might say there was a [citation that put residents in] jeopardy, but it might not be in there at all," says Ms. Edelman.
  
  The article also appeared on MSNBC.com.
   
• A March 9 Chicago Tribune piece, "Hospitals' use of 'observation stay' is questioned" says that when patients are not officially admitted to the hospital as inpatients and are classified instead as there for an observation stay, insurance and Medicare may not cover some expenses.  "It's terribly confusing for people. They don't understand it," said Toby Edelman, an attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, which voiced concern about this trend's impact in a letter to the government in January.
  
  This story was picked up on the Kaiser Family Foundation Web site, on Medical News Today, in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, and in the Florida Ledger.
   
• A March 6 Medical News Today piece, "Health Care Reformers Should Learn From Medicare" says that Medicare, the country's only experiment with national health insurance, has a lot to teach about how best to provide health care coverage for all.  Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, urges President Obama and Congress to look to the lessons from traditional Medicare (as opposed to private Medicare plans), which could serve as the basis for a national health plan. 

February 2009

• A February 26 US News & World Report blog post entitled "Obama Budget Squeezes Medicare—and Wealthier Seniors" says President Obama's budget proposal to create a $634 billion fund to finance health care reform would halt the higher payments that the government gives insurers who cover Medicare beneficiaries through private Medicare Advantage plans. The budget also proposes that wealthy seniors pay more for their drug coverage. Advocates are concerned that the higher premiums may drive seniors who don't need any pricey drugs out of the program altogether, leaving poorer, sicker seniors behind and driving up their costs. Moreover, given the thousands of plans offering various levels of coverage for different prices already, says Vicki Gottlich, senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, segmenting the program further "could be an administrative nightmare."
   
• A February 22 Hartford Courant letter to the editor from the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s executive director, Judith Stein, urges Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell to attend hearings on her proposed budget to make informed decisions in these difficult times.  Stein, who has heard heart-wrenching and inspiring testimony from people who will be directly affected by proposed budget cuts, says, "The budget will cut lifelines for millions of our fellow citizens. The governor cannot imagine what her budget proposals will mean to Connecticut's people without hearing their stories." 
   
• Click here http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/ to read a February 9 article from American Medical News, "Direct negotiation of Medicare drug prices gains momentum."  According to the piece, the Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act of 2009 was introduced in the House and Senate in late January, and it includes a proposal to give the federal government the authority to negotiate Medicare prescription drug prices directly with pharmaceutical manufacturers.  The Center for Medicare Advocacy said the bill would make prescription drug coverage more affordable for beneficiaries and taxpayers. In addition, a new appeals process in the bill would protect beneficiaries by ensuring timely access to non-formulary drugs when medically necessary. (This was also covered in CQ HealthBeat, the Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, and Medical News Today). 

January 2009

• Click here http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/ to read "Medicare closes off WellPoint's drug plan" a January 26 article from American Medical News. According to the piece, thousands of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in WellPoint's prescription drug plan have been denied access to medications because of internal problems with the company’s systems.  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has suspended WellPoint from enrolling beneficiaries in their plans.  One AIDS patient contacted Jocelyne Watrous of the Center for Medicare Advocacy when she found she was no longer eligible for her medications, an apparent result of WellPoint computer glitches. "The pharmacist told her there were several similar cases like that," Watrous said.
   

• Click here http://seniorjournal.com/ to read "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" a January 12 article from Senior Journal. The piece says advocates for Medicare beneficiaries are criticizing actions by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (the government agency that administers the Medicare program), which 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."  Articles related to this issue also ran in Congressional Quarterly and Medical News Today.
   

• Click here http://www.newsday.com/ to read "New questions about AARP's growing insurance business" a "Gray Matters" column that appeared in Newsday on January 10.  According to the piece, the sale of one of AARP’s health insurance policies has been suspended and is under congressional scrutiny.  Medicare advocates – including Judith Stein of the Center for Medicare Advocacy – say AARP's prescription drug and Medicare Advantage insurance business pose a conflict of interest and undermine traditional Medicare.
   

• Click here http://www.connpost.com/ to read "Dodd to hear health care concerns" an article from the January 8 Connecticut Post.  According to the article, Sen. Chris Dodd hopes to bring Tom Daschle to Connecticut later this month as Democrats look to improve access and affordability to a system they have long sought to reform.  Dodd is holding a "Connecticut Prescriptions for Change" listening tour – a series of meetings focused on health care, and will be joined at the first meeting by Judith Stein, executive director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy.
   
• Click here http://www.pottstownmercury.com/ to read "How your hospital stay is classified is important to know" a January 6 column that appeared in Pennsylvania-based newspapers Pottstown Mercury and Phoenixville News.  The Center for Medicare Advocacy recently reported a disturbing trend: Medicare beneficiaries are staying in the hospital for as long as 14 days under the classification of "observation" and not as a hospital admission. The failure to admit beneficiaries to the hospital may translate into less coverage for them, and patients who are later transferred to nursing homes may not qualify for Medicare coverage.
   

• CMA In the News 2008

• CMA In the News 2007

• CMA In the News 2006

• CMA In the News 2005

• CMA In the News 2004

• CMA In the News 2003