Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period Begins on Oct 15!
Read moreMedicare’s Open Enrollment Period offers an important opportunity each year to review and make changes to your coverage. It runs from October 15 – December 7 and any plan or coverage changes you make, become effective as of January 1. Below are 3 helpful tips for knowing the changes you can make and how...
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Senate Introduces Medicare for All Act of 2017
Read moreThis week, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) introduced legislation to create a federally administered Medicare-for-all national health insurance program (see S. 1804). Sanders advocates that this bill is in response to what the people want. According to an April 2017 poll by The Economist/YouGov, 60% of the American people want to “expand Medicare to provide health insurance to...
Act Now to Protect Our SHIP Programs Nationwide!
Read moreThis week is a critical time to reach out to your Congressional Representatives in support of vital aging programs as Congress has returned to Washington, D.C. from their August summer break. Before they left, House and Senate Appropriations Committee had proposed deep cuts to several key programs that support older adults, including the State...
Equitable Relief Waiver of Part B Penalties Ends Sept 30 ~ Apply Now
Read moreIf you received your health insurance through the individual Marketplace (Covered California in our state) and didn’t enroll in Medicare Part B when you were eligible, you could face Part B late enrollment penalties. This has been an easy and costly mistake to make, as people newly eligible for Medicare receive little to no...
September Brings….Medicare Open Enrollment Notices
Read moreSeptember is just around the corner and with it comes preparation for Medicare’s fall Open Enrollment. Also referred to as Annual Election Period (AEP), this yearly time period from Oct 15 – Dec 7 is when you can change your coverage. You’ll start receiving some notices about Open Enrollment and about any changes to your...
New Class of Hospital Patients May Gain Access to Appeal “Observation Status”
Read moreA new ruling yesterday in Alexander v. Price, 3:11-CV-1703 (MPS) certified a class composed of all Medicare beneficiaries who, since January 1, 2009, have received or will have received “observation services” as an outpatient during a hospitalization. This ruling is a first crucial step in creating a legal right where Medicare beneficiaries placed in...
CHA Calls for Restored SHIP Funding for FY 2018
Read moreLast week, the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its FY18 bill, and among the cuts in programs that older adults rely upon was the total elimination of funding for the Medicare State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) -- this is called the Health Insurance Counseling & Advocacy Program (HICAP) in California. With full committee...
BENEs Act Improves & Simplifies Medicare Part B Eligibility Notices & Enrollment
Read moreThe basic rules underpinning the Part B enrollment system were developed more than fifty years ago, when Medicare was first established. The Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (H.R. 2575) offers long-overdue solutions to modernize and simplify Part B enrollment. Through bipartisan, low-cost reforms, the BENES Act shields people with Medicare from steep...
Call Today to Save Our Health Care & Say No to AHCA ~ National Call-In Day 6/14
Read moreJoin us and advocates, organizations, agencies and people around the country in calling your Senators today to demand they say NO to the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and protect our health care. To reach your Senators, call the Capitol switchboard at (202) 224‐3121. Ask them to demand the legislation be made public and that public hearings...
American Health Care Act = Unaffordable Health Care for Millions of Americans
Read morePlain and simple, the American Health Care Act would make health care unaffordable and inaccessible for millions of Americans. The facts about the devastating impacts this legislation would have on people, and older adults in particular, is disturbing. Below is a short summary from AARP of the AHCA’s impact on older Californians. The bill...