How will the new health care reform affect seniors?
The National Council on Aging recently conducted a survey of 636 men and women over the age of 65 and found that the majority of participants were generally uninformed about the effects of the new Affordable Health Care Act and how it would relate to the kind of health care coverage they would receive.
Providing quality care for seniors is pretty important to us. After all, it’s what we do! And anything that can possibly help our clients make important decisions concerning their long-term care is worth a second look. So we did a little research, and here’s what we found. (Just the facts please, ma’am!)
The new law does not cut basic Medicare benefits. Guaranteed Medicare benefits will not change.
The new law offers temporary assistance and attempts to provide permanent solutions for prescription drug costs. People in the Medicare “donut hole” (people who combined with their Part D plan have prescription drug costs above $2830 but below $6440, and therefore are responsible for paying 100% of their prescription drug costs) will receive immediate assistance. As soon as you reach the donut hole, Medicare will automatically send you a check for $250 to help with the costs. By 2011, those in the donut hole should only pay half of what their plan charges for brand name drugs. The new law also proposes to slowly phase out and eliminate the hole by 2020.
The new law attempts to offer better preventative care. Starting in 2011, Medicare recipients will be entitled to a free annual wellness visit and prevention plan. Some preventative services such as cancer and diabetes screenings will also be provided at no cost.
Medicare spending will continue to grow. But experts predict the new law will save money. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a non-partisan group responsible for cost estimates, predicts that the rate of growth will slow from 6.8% per year to 5.5% per year under the new law. They also predict that the new law will save Medicare about $400 billion over 10 years, extend the solvency of the Medicare Trust Fund until 2026, and reduce the budget deficit by $124 billion over 10 years.
Payments to Medicare Advantage plans will be reduced; possibly causing MA plans to make adjustments. The majority of seniors (about 75%) have original Medicare. Medicare pays about 13% more per person to MA plans. The new law will gradually reduce these payments, but will provide bonuses to plans offering high-quality care. In response to these decreased payments, MA plans may choose to cut extra benefits not offered with traditional Medicare, raise premiums, or drop out of the Medicare program. MA plans will not be allowed to cut any benefits that traditional Medicare guarantees.
Medicare will still not provide for long-term care, but will offer programs to assist lower income Medicare recipients with home care costs. In 2013, a new program called Community Living Assistance Services and Support (CLASS) will become available. Under this program, workers may choose to have premiums deducted from their paychecks. If you participate in CLASS for at least 5 years and become unable to perform basic activities such as dressing, bathing, or are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, you may become eligible for a daily cash benefit. This benefit can be used to pay for anything that will help you stay at home, such as assistance from a Home Instead CAREGiver.
If you’d like to know more about the Affordable Care Act, you can read it in its entirety at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/search/pagedetails.action?granuleId=&packageId=BILLS-111hr3590PP , (before you open it, please note that it is around 2400 pages long). Or, you can check out what the National Council on Aging has to say about the new law at http://www.ncoa.org/public-policy/health-care-reform/straight-talk-for-seniors-on.html. And as always, if you have any questions about the kind of care Home Instead Senior Care can provide you, you can visit us at http://www.seniorcarelouisville.net or give us a call at 502-515-9515.
