What Health Care Reform Means for Seniors

 As we celebrate the 45th anniversary of Medicare, it's important that we continue to strengthen the program that makes sure seniors get the quality health care they need without going bankrupt.  Seniors in Medicare Part D face the donut hole - a gap in prescription drug coverage where they don't get help paying for drugs once their medication expenses reach $2,830 through $6,440 in a single year.  The health care reform law - the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act - gives seniors who hit the donut hole this year relief with a $250 rebate check.  Beginning in 2011, seniors will receive a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs while in the donut hole, and the donut hole will be completely closed by 2020.

Because of health care reform, we are beginning to close that donut hole that's been so hard to swallow.  Seniors have worked hard and played by the rules all their lives.  They paid into the system so that they would have health care they can count on.  Medicare is not an entitlement, it's an earned benefit.  That's why I've fought so hard to save and strengthen Medicare in health care reform.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will help people like Fran Garfinkle - a 70-year old retired small business owner and cancer survivor from Bethesda, Maryland.  She's one of four million seniors who will be trapped in the Medicare Part D coverage gap this year.  Fran hit the donut hole for the first time last summer and was suddenly faced with a very serious problem.  Like so many others, she's on a fixed income.  She and her husband pay for a Medicare plan, Medicare supplemental plan, prescription drug plan, and dental plan.  Now on top of all of the co pays, they are paying 100% of her drug costs because she fell into the donut hole.

Already this year, 80,000 seniors have fallen into the donut hole and began receiving the first rebate checks on June 10.  Checks are mailed out automatically about three months after seniors reach the coverage gap.  Seniors do not have to do anything to prove that they have paid more than $2,830 in out-of-pocket drug costs.  Medicare tracks these costs for them.

In addition to closing the donut hole, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act extends Medicare's solvency until 2026, provides seniors with new benefits such as a wellness visit to help prevent disease, improves care coordination and patient safety to help reduce hospital readmissions, and establishes a new voluntary long-term care insurance program to help cover the costs of support services that help seniors age in place.

Our seniors' health care should never depend on the bull of political promises or the bear of the market.  Health care reform helps assure that seniors have access to the healthcare they need and deserve.  I will continue to fight to make sure that the federal government is doing all it can to help all seniors live healthy lives.  You can count on me to make sure we honor the promises made to our seniors - today, tomorrow and always.

The Early Retirees Reinsurance Program

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has begun accepting applications for the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP) to help businesses maintain health care coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who don't yet qualify for Medicare.

This is another way health care reform helps good guy and good gal businesses that want to do the right thing by their employees, but can't afford to do so.  This is a step forward in helping the 4 million Americans between age 55 and 64 who need insurance, get insurance. And another step forward in helping businesses be able to afford to provide them with insurance.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides $5 billion in funding for this program.  The ERRP could help the approximately 71,400 Marylanders who have retired before they were eligible for Medicare obtain health coverage through their former employers.

Applications for the program, as well as application assistance, can be found HERE.