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Medicare Enrollees May Be Able to Change 2020 Plans Later Due to Trump Admin Errors

The 2020 Medicare open enrollment period ends tomorrow — and it has not been the program’s finest hour. The Trump administration’s new online enrollment tools have been rightly criticized as inaccurate, misleading, and sometimes downright biased toward private plans.

With one day left in open enrollment, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has indicated that, because its online tools are riddled with errors, beneficiaries may be able to change their plans during a “special enrollment period” after the normal deadline.

“Saturday is the deadline for most people with Medicare coverage to sign up for private drug and medical plans for next year. But advocates worry that enrollment decisions based on bad information from the government’s revamped, error-prone Plan Finder website will bring unwelcome surprises.” – Kaiser Health News, 12/5/19

Read more from our new blog post by clicking here.

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Historic legislation to reduce prescription drug prices will come up for a vote in the U.S. House next week. Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced today that the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drug Costs Now Act will reach the House floor as early as Tuesday. The bill, otherwise known as H.R. 3, would empower the Secretary of Health and Human Services to negotiate lower drug prices with Big Pharma on behalf of the millions of Americans in the Medicare program. The legislation represents the biggest change to Medicare since its inception in 1965.

“We are going to give Medicare the power to negotiate lower drug prices, and make those prices available to Americans with private insurance as well as Medicare beneficiaries. American seniors and families shouldn’t have to pay more for their medicines than what Big Pharma charges in other countries for the same drugs.” – Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 12/5/19

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Larson, Buchanan, Wyden, Cassidy Introduce Know Your Social Security Act

Today, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman John Larson (D-CT), Ways and Means Committee Member Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Finance Committee Member Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) introduced the Know Your Social Security Act.

The legislation will clarify the requirement for the Social Security Administration (SSA) to mail an annual Social Security Statement to all workers ages 25 and older with covered earnings, who are not receiving Social Security benefits. Since Fiscal Year 2011 SSA has failed to mail annual Statements to these Americans, citing limited operating budgets, even though in 1989 and 1990 Congress enacted requirements for SSA to provide a Statement annually.

“Social Security is our nation’s foundation to a solid retirement. Americans who contribute to Social Security should receive an update every year so they know what benefits they are earning and can plan for their retirements. No matter what happens in the stock market, Social Security will always be there for them,” said Larson. “I’m proud to introduce this bipartisan, bicameral legislation alongside Ranking Member Wyden, Senator Cassidy and Congressman Buchanan.”

via Rep. John Larson.

We have endorsed this legislation.

Stay up to date on issues like this by signing up for our free newsletter, Your Morning Read, by clicking here.

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via twitter.

Related Reading:

Prescription drug prices are out of control – and older Americans are feeling the financial pain at the pharmacy counter. Prices for the most commonly prescribed drugs for seniors have increased ten times the rate of inflation since 2013. Medicare beneficiaries pay thousands of dollars a year in out-of-pocket drug costs they can’t afford. 

You can sign our petition by clicking here.

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Join us at 12:45pm EDT today as we discuss:

• HR.3 Rx drug price negotiation bill.
• Stephen Moore’s idea of privatizing Social Security. 

Watch the broadcast live by clicking here.

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For Democratic presidential candidate and South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the issue of long-term care is personal.

When his father was dying last January, he and his mother grappled with the possibility of having to arrange long-term care for him. Because Medicare does not cover most long-term care costs, a social worker told Buttigieg’s mom that her best option might be to spend down her savings: if she got poor enough she’d qualify for Medicaid.

“While I heard about these kinds of stories in the past, I understood in a different way” after that experience, Buttigieg told TIME in a phone interview on Sunday.

via Time.

Related Reading:

We have been keeping track of Presidential candidates in our timeline which can be found by clicking.

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wapo.st

In helping elderly parents, caregivers get a peek at their futures — and are inspired to plan for old age

AARP estimates about 41 million Americans care for their adult family members, a number that has increased as life expectancy has grown. About 4 in 10 such caregivers say they have plans in place for their own future care, according to the organization’s 2015 Caregiving in the U.S. survey.

Often, people who are relatively young and healthy don’t spend much time contemplating what life will look like when they get old and frail — until they see it reflected in the life of a loved one.

via Washington Post.

Stay updated on similar issues like this by signing up for our free newsletter, Your Morning Read, by clicking here.

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MOORE: Well, this is an idea that I don’t know if the Trump administration is going to embrace, but it’s something, I think, for middle-class people would be one of the best ways for every American to own stock in America. So, instead – the idea would be, you know, rather than having to send your 10% of your paycheck into the black hole of Social Security, you would be able to put that into personal account, like an index fund. And that means, Steve, everybody in America would benefit when the stock market goes up.

via Media Matters.

Related Reading:

Social Security Privatization: Then and Now.

While it’s safe for Democrats to declare their opposition to privatization, the bolder step they need to make in this politically charged benefit-cuts environment is to demand that any Social Security conversation must address benefit adequacy as well as long-term solvency.

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Since at least 2018, the Trump administration has been tilting the playing field toward private Medicare Advantage plans over traditional Medicare.  In both print and online materials, CMS presents enrollee information in a way that makes Medicare Advantage seem like a better deal.

via Trump Admin Medicare Enrollment Tools Under Fire.

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on.mktw.net

Open enrollment tools still favor Medicare Advantage

Max Richtman

Medicare open enrollment season is supposed to be a time when enrollees can choose the best coverage based on accurate, unbiased information from the federal government. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s enrollment tools show a continuing bias toward private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans over traditional Medicare.

This is not surprising. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), under its current leadership, seems to behave as if its main priority is to privatize the Medicare program.

Making Medicare coverage decisions is a complex task with multiple personal considerations. Beneficiaries need help understanding their options — including the pros and cons of traditional Medicare and private Medicare Advantage. They need to make fully informed choices given their existing and projected health needs, financial circumstances, and potential assistance with cost-sharing. In a 2018 poll of our organization’s members, more than half of respondents said they make enrollment decisions through online research.

Read more from this op-ed by clicking here.

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Medicare open enrollment season is supposed to be a time when enrollees can choose the best coverage based on accurate, unbiased information from the federal government. Unfortunately, the Trump administration’s enrollment tools show a continuing bias toward private Medicare Advantage (MA) plans over traditional Medicare.

via Open enrollment tools still favor Medicare Advantage.

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With a little more than a week left of the 2020 Medicare open enrollment season, the Trump administration continues drawing fire for its revamped online tools. On Monday, ProPublica published a scathing report highlighting misleading and inaccurate information on the Medicare Plan Finder. Many of the problems involve prescription drug plans, making it harder for seniors to make optimum choices that take into account not only premium prices, but out-of-pocket costs – which can run in the thousands of dollars, if not more.

Read more from our new blog post by clicking here.