Extra Help Program continues

above the low ceilings set by law. A widow with just $7,800 saved for her retirement is ineligible for Extra Help, no matter how low her monthly income.

The problem is worse in the Medicare Savings Programs, which have maximum asset limits frozen at $4,000 for an individual and $6,000 for a married couple; levels established two decades ago.

Only 20 percent of eligible people with Medicare are enrolled in the Medicare Savings Programs that pay the Part B premium, now nearly $100 per month. There would be a much higher percentage of eligible persons if this 20 year old limit was increased to reflect current values.

Congress has the opportunity this year to raise and align the asset levels for both Extra Help and the Medicare Savings Programs. Please ask your Senator to take action to help low-income people with Medicare. Urge Congress to liberalize eligibility requirements for the assistance programs, and cover the cost by reducing subsidies to private Medicare health plans.

Problems exist in California as well. In his budget, Governor Schwarzenegger proposes to cut $53.8 million from the low income support program. He would eliminate payments to those who do not qualify for MediCal without a share of cost. 

Tell your State and Congressional legislators that you oppose budget cuts in benefits to the poor and disadvantaged. Let them know you support legislation to increase the amount of assets a person can hold and still be eligible for Extra Help and the Medicare Savings Programs

Contact US Representative Wally Herger, State Senator Sam Aanestad, State Assemblymen Rick Keene and Doug LaMalfa and, of course, Governor Schwarzenegger.  

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Have you ever wondered why physicians are the only significant group of professionals in our society who do not keep their client records on computers? Why is it that doctors don't do what lawyers, accountants, architects and engineers all do?

The answer, according to National Center for Policy Analysis President Dr. John C. Goodman, is: Medicare. Or more precisely, the way Medicare pays doctors-which is also the way Blue Cross and almost all other health insurers pay.

"Doctors use antiquated record keeping because we have an antiquated payment system," said Goodman. "Other professionals use electronic record keeping because they reap benefits from greater efficiencies. In medicine, perversely, the reverse is true.  Doctors who are efficient get less income."

Goodman points to Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania as an example of what is wrong with the payment system. Geisinger offers heart patients a warranty on their surgeries: patients and their insurers who choose to participate don’t pay for readmissions.

Whereas most hospitals make money on their mistakes, Geisinger loses money on its mistakes. This creates an incentive to use computer technology to reduce errors but, since Medicare won't pay anything for the warranty, Geisinger and other hospitals have little incentive to boost quality without any financial rewards.

"While we applaud the government effort to promote EMRs," said Goodman, "more progress could be made by changing the way Medicare pays for health care."

"It reminds me of a line from Shakespeare," he said. "'The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in the stars, but in ourselves.'"

Seniors to Pay More for Drugs

Nearly three-fourths of Medicare beneficiaries will pay 16% more for prescription drug coverage this year, according to an article in the LA Times. This increase is due primarily to a rise in insurance premiums for the top ten Medicare Part D plans.

"A 16% increase is significant in and of itself, because premiums are rising rapidly at a time when Medicare beneficiaries are finding it harder to afford it," said Dan Mendelson, president of Avalere Health, an information company serving the healthcare industry. "These are individuals on a fixed income who are facing rapidly rising prices elsewhere in the economy."

The ten plans in question account for almost three-fourths of people enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan. Their 2008 premiums average $26.39 a month, or about 16% more than seniors and medically disabled paid last year.

Seniors are currently spending about one-third of their Social Security checks on Medicare premiums, including both Part B and Part D costs, plus the cost of a Medicare supplement, also higher this year.