Several provisions within the H-CARE act include; increasing payments to Rural Health Clinics, authorizing to million annually for grants to rural providers to help with the cost of implementing health information technology, requiring prompt payment to rural pharmacies by Medicare prescription drug plans and ensuring that rural Americans are appropriately represented on the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission..TSCL recently endorsed The BASIC ACT introduced by Senator Christopher Murphy that would pay the deceased beneficiary's Social Security benefits for each day a recipient lives. The bill would send the beneficiary's estate a check for the days lived in the final month. The legislation would also increase the size of the Social Security death payment from 5 to 50% of the deceased beneficiary's typical monthly Social Security income with 5 as the minimum payment. As currently structured, the legislation would cost an estimated 0 million each year..While most prescription drugs are paid for by beneficiaries and their Medicare Part D plans, Medicare Part B spends about billion on pricey drugs that must be given intravenously or by injection by trained healthcare professionals. Medicare pays the healthcare provider the average sales price, plus 6% for the costs associated with the purchase and storage of the medications. For example, if a drug costs ,000, the doctor would receive an additional 6% payment, or , but if a similar drug costing ,000 were used instead, the doctor would receive 0 instead..This week, The Senior Citizens League's legislative team met with several Members of Congress and their top staff to discuss key issues affecting seniors. In addition, the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee held a hearing on the Medicare physician reimbursement system, and TSCL saw support grow for two key pieces of legislation..This week, Senator Sherrod Brown introduced legislation that would repeal the Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision two Social Security provisions that unfairly reduce the earned benefits of millions of state and local government employees each year. The Social Security Fairness Act was introduced with the bipartisan support of fourteen original cosponsors in the Senate..The following reflects the views of the writer and are not necessarily those of The Senior Citizens League..An estimated 39 million Medicare beneficiaries spend up to 29 percent of their Social Security benefits on healthcare costs, according to a new survey by The Senior Citizens League. "That's a huge chunk of one's household budget, and chances are that many of those people are paying too much for premiums, deductibles, and out of pocket costs," says Mary Johnson a Medicare policy analyst for The Senior Citizens League. "One of the best financial moves that Medicare beneficiaries can make is to review health and drug plan coverage and compare options during Medicare's Fall Open Enrollment Period, which starts October 15 and runs through December 7, 2021," Johnson says. "For many people, it could potentially save hundreds of dollars, making the difference between having to split pills or going without, versus to covering all prescriptions and still winding up with a little cash left over," says Johnson, who helps her friends and family with the task..First, one new cosponsor Representative Debbie Dingell signed on to the bipartisan Consumer Price Index for Elderly Consumers Act, bringing the total up to fifty-one. If adopted, the bill would base Social Security cost-of-living adjustments on the more fair and adequate CPI-E. Currently, COLAs are based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners, and they fail to keep pace with the inflation experienced by older Americans..The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Frank Pallone, Jr. has been working with the top Republican on that committee, Greg Walden of Oregon, on what measures need to be included in the next coronavirus bill. Walden is pushing for a surprise billing measure to be in the bill, but Pallone has yet to commit to it.
