Health Care Happenings

With national health reform talks consuming attention in the Senate, MOAA has been trying to get answers from Senate leaders about any back-up plans to address two big problems that will hit on January 1 unless Congress acts to prevent them.

The first is the 21% cut in Medicare and TRICARE payments to doctors that will be imposed Jan. 1 under current law.  The House passed legislation (HR 3961) to repeal the cut.  The Senate voted down a similar bill, but there is a provision in the Senate national health reform bill that would suspend the cut and substitute a small increase for 2010.  But Senate national health reform debate is dragging on, and the Jan. 1 deadline is rapidly approaching.

The other issue is the significant Part B premium hike that will be faced by people turning 65 in 2010 and for people whose incomes exceed $85,000 ($170,000 for a married couple).  These groups make up about 25% of eligible Medicare beneficiaries, but will get hit with an extra part B premium hike Jan. 1 under current law, because the other 75% were automatically exempted from any Part B increase once it was determined that there wouldn’t be any Social Security COLA.  The House passed legislation (HR 3631) last September to exempt all Medicare-eligibles from a Part B hike, but the Senate has yet to take action on it.

MOAA has made several inquiries to the Senate as to what the plan is to make sure both of these issues are addressed before Jan. 1.  But we haven’t had any answer yet on either issue.

We’ll keep pushing and keep you posted.  In the meantime, use MOAA’s alerts to urge your senators to action on Part B relief, and Medicare/TRICARE payment cut repeal.