Group Seeks Elimination Of Medicare Waiting Period For People With Disabilities

Main Category: Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP
Also Included In: Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy
Article Date: 02 May 2007 - 19:00 PDT

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A coalition of 34 consumer groups, led by the Medicare Rights Center, has begun to lobby Congress to revise a law that requires individuals with disabilities to wait two years to become eligible for Medicare after they begin to receive Social Security disability benefits, the Dallas Morning News reports. Medicare implemented the waiting period in 1972, when Congress expanded the program to cover individuals with disabilities, to limit the cost and ensure only those with severe and long-term disabilities would qualify for the program.

However, according to a report released earlier this month, the law is "sentencing people to inadequate health care, poverty and death." The center estimates that elimination of the waiting period would cost $8.7 billion annually, although savings of $4.3 billion in Medicaid would offset some of the cost.

Deane Beebe, a co-author of the report, said, "It's unconscionable to leave people stranded without affordable health care coverage at the exact moment they need it most." She recommended that Congress finance the elimination of the waiting period through reduced reimbursements to private Medicare Advantage plans.

Some Concerns
Robert Moffitt, an analyst at the Heritage Foundation, said, "Medicare is a financial wreck, with $33 trillion in unfunded liabilities," adding "This would be another nail in the coffin." Joseph Antos, a health care expert at the American Enterprise Institute, said, "Instead of opening the door to everyone, let's do better at calculating financial need." He added, "Some people do have other sources of insurance, so we should be careful about expanding a program that's already facing serious financial problems itself" (Moos, Dallas Morning News, 4/26).

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