Biden, Sebelius issue report on health reform and seniors

Vice President Biden, Secretary Sebelius Issue New Report on Seniors and Health Insurance Reform

Vice President Joe Biden and Health and Human Services (HHS) SecretaryKathleen Sebelius today hosted a town hall meeting with seniors inSilver Spring, Md., and released a new report, Health Insurance Reformand Medicare: Making Medicare Stronger for America’s Seniors. Thereport, authored by HHS, outlines how health insurance reform will helpseniors and answers key questions about President Obama’s healthinsurance reform plan. The complete report is available now at http://www.healthreform.gov.  The report highlights several problems in the current health care system and health insurance reform solutions such as:

Preserving and strengthening Medicare.

According to the Medicare Trustees 2009 report, the Medicare Part ATrust Fund will be exhausted by 2017. Health insurance reform willextend the life of the Medicare Trust Fund by an additional four tofive years — and delivery system reforms included in health insurancereform have the potential to keep the Trust Fund solvent even longerinto the future. Health insurance reform will also reduce overpaymentsto private plans and will clamp down on fraud and abuse to strengthenMedicare for all seniors. Coupled with improvements in the quality ofcare, expansion of the health care workforce, and reductions inout-of-pocket costs, health insurance reform will ensure that Medicarewill continue to provide the high-quality, affordable coverage thatAmerica’s seniors deserve and expect.

*       Cutting high prescription drug costs.
Prescription drug costs represent a significant expense for seniors.
While Medicare added a prescription drug benefit, this benefit includesa coverage gap commonly called the “donut hole.” In 2007, over 8million seniors hit the “donut hole.” For those who are not low-incomeor have not purchased other coverage, average drug costs in thiscoverage gap are $340 per month, or $4,080 per year. Health insurancereform will close the coverage gap in Medicare Part D over time, soseniors do not have to worry about losing coverage for their drugcosts. While the closure of the coverage gap is phased in, healthinsurance reform will also provide seniors with a discount of 50percent on their brand name medication costs in the coverage gap,saving thousands of dollars for some seniors.

*       Making preventive services free.
Many seniors do not receive recommended preventive and primary care,leading to less effective and more expensive treatments. For example,20 percent of women aged 50 and over did not receive a mammogram in thepast two years, and 38 percent of adults aged 50 and over have neverhad a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy. Seniors in Medicare must pay 20percent of the cost of many preventive services on their own. For acolonoscopy that costs $700, this means that a senior must pay $140 –a price that can be prohibitively expensive. Under health insurancereform, a senior would not pay anything for a screening colonoscopy orother preventive services. Reform will eliminate any deductibles,copayments, or other cost-sharing for obtaining preventive services,making them affordable and accessible.

*       Ending overpayments to private insurance companies that cost all Medicare beneficiaries.

The federal government pays private insurance companies on average 14percent more for providing coverage to Medicare Advantage beneficiariesthan it would pay for the same beneficiary in the traditional Medicareprogram. There is no evidence that this extra payment leads to betterquality for Medicare beneficiaries, and all Medicare beneficiaries paythe price of these excessive overpayments through higher premiums –even the 78 percent of seniors who are not enrolled in a MedicareAdvantage plan. A typical couple in traditional Medicare will pay onaverage nearly $90 next year to subsidize private insurance companiesthat do not provide their Medicare benefits. Health insurance reformwill eliminate excessive government subsidies to Medicare Advantageplans, which could save the federal government, taxpayers, and Medicarebeneficiaries well over $100 billion over the next 10 years.

To learn more and read the complete report, visit www.HealthReform.gov.