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  • Ask The Advisor February 2011 Advisor Feed

    In a statement that was released shortly after the bill's introduction, Sen. Blumenthal stated, "The seniors who spent a lifetime working to make our country stronger deserve peace of mind that their retirement years will not be marked by suffering." TSCL could not agree more, and we look forward to working with Sen. Blumenthal and Rep. Cartwright in the coming months to help build support for their bill, and to help pass it into law. .Five years after IPAB's creation, it still has no appointed members and, due to record-low growth in healthcare costs, it hasn't been triggered to make recommendations to Congress yet. Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, says she doesn't expect it to be triggered until 201But hundreds of lawmakers have serious concerns about the prospect of the board since it would be comprised of unelected and unaccountable appointees. They are hoping to pass legislation that would do away with it by the end of this year. .When hold harmless is triggered program-wide as in 2016, however, there is no specific provision of law with which to finance the unpaid portion of Medicare Part B premium increases for the roughly 43 million who are protected by the provision. In the past, Congress has chosen to allow this cost burden to shift to the 30 percent of beneficiaries who are not held harmless. Because the cost is spread over far fewer people instead of all beneficiaries, they pay a far larger share of the costs, thus the Part B premium spikes. … Continued

  • Ask The Advisor February 2011 Advisor Feed

    Nearly 50 years ago, we made a promise to ensure quality, affordable healthcare for all American seniors. In order to protect that promise, we must promote excellence and efficiency in Medicare, while being more fiscally responsible. One of the most important ways we can achieve those critical goals is to fix the broken Medicare physician payment system, which has created uncertainty and instability for seniors, healthcare providers, and the federal budget for decades. Because of the failed physician payment system, there is a looming crisis facing seniors and the doctors who care for them: on January 1, 2013 doctors could be hit with a scheduled reduction in Medicare payments of more than 30 percent. .An Ohio physician ordered more than 400 drugs each for 13 of his 665 patients. In total, this physician ordered 50,430 drugs dispensed by 100 pharmacies in 18 states. .A number of Social Security recipients told their stories to the members of the subcommittee and explained the problems they face, as well as their desires for improvements to the program. … Continued

A major study by two economists at the Social Security Administration found that the growth is mainly due to Baby Boomers moving into disability-prone ages, growth in the number of women covered for disability benefits, and ordinary population growth. But the researchers were unable to account for 10 percent of the growth that they attributed to what they dubbed the disability "incidence rate" — meaning the growth not attributable to something else. Some members of Congress and the public are beginning to question whether overly vague eligibility criteria, and too many applicants receiving benefits that they aren't entitled to, might be to blame. .The Grassley-Wyden package would create a rebate system in Medicare Part B and Part D beginning in 2022 for brand-name drugs and biological products with prices that increase faster than inflation. Conservative groups and some Senate Republicans have opposed the rebate system for Part D, the prescription drug benefit program, but not for Part B, the outpatient services program. .The "offset" rules for unemployment affected large numbers of seniors during the recent period of high unemployment. In Virginia, for example, the state unemployment insurance reserves dropped so low that a state law was triggered requiring cuts to the unemployment benefit payments of Social Security recipients in January 20By October, 30,000 jobless seniors in Virginia had been affected, and the offset completely wiped out the unemployment benefit of an additional 4,000. .Hang up if a stranger asks for personal or financial information. .Key Bill Gains Support .Healthcare Debate Continues in Senate .Beyond funding the government and raising the debt ceiling, TSCL was pleased that the Bipartisan Budget Act included the following three improvements to the Medicare program: .Case 2— A man born in Mexico worked under his father's SSN for 9 years and then had these wages transferred when he acquired his own SSN before collecting retirement benefits. From 1999 to 2002 he collected approximately ,441 in retirement benefits, including benefits for dependents based on his account. Estimated benefits over 20 years — ,300. .It eliminated the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). This fifteen-member board of unelected officials was created by the Affordable Care Act in 2010 to keep Medicare spending down when it exceeded a certain level. While that level was never surpassed and no members were ever appointed to the board, TSCL felt that it could have threatened access to quality medical care for Medicare beneficiaries since it had the power to cut payments to doctors and limit networks of providers. TSCL has advocated for bipartisan legislation for years that would have eliminated the IPAB, and we were pleased that the Bipartisan Budget Act did just that.