22
Urge Your U.S. Reps To Roll Back Medicare Means-Testing
U.S. Rep Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) has launched a petition to discharge H.R. 5147, a bill to repeal the means-testing provisions in the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, scheduled to start next year. The bill has been tied up in committee without a vote. The discharge petition, which must be signed by 218 representatives, would require an up-and-down vote on the House floor by all representatives. Under the 2003 Medicare law, for the first time in the 41-year history of the Medicare program, monthly premiums seniors pay will be tied to their income. Starting Jan. 1, 2007, almost 2 million seniors will be hit with a substantially higher Medicare Part B premium. Among higher-income seniors, premiums will jump to $106 a month, $143 a month and as much as $162 a month. Within three years, it is estimated that some seniors will be paying $391 per month for Part B. Those with incomes under $80,000 a year (individual) and $160,000 a year (couple) will pay $93.50 per month next year. Under the legislation, over the next three years, premiums for high-income seniors will continue to skyrocket dramatically�reaching almost $400 a month for some by 2009. In addition, President Bush�s budget would require, over time, more and more middle-income seniors to pay these higher Medicare premiums due to elimination of the inflation adjustment. Please call your U.S. representative on AFT�s toll-free hotline to the U.S. Capitol switchboard at 1/866/327-8670 and ask that he/she sign the discharge petition on H.R. 5147.
DECIDING ABOUT MEDICARE PART D?
The enrollment period for the second year of the Medicare prescription drug program (known as Part D) opens on Nov. 15 and ends Dec.31, 2006. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) annual handbook Medicare and You, to be mailed in October to all Medicare beneficiaries, will include next year's plan options by state. If you have just become eligible for Medicare or are thinking about switching Part D coverage, visit MedicareInteractive, a special Web site created by the Medicare Rights Center and sponsored by the AFT and NYSUT. If you are Medicare eligible and already have an employer- or state-provided retiree drug plan as good as or better than the standard Part D coverage, check with your plan's benefits administrator or appropriate state agency to verify that you will have continuing coverage. If you do, you don't have to do anything. To compare drug plans in your area, go to http://www.medicare.gov.
55 Tricks to Slash Doctor Bills
Save big on drugs, dentists, hospitals, physicians, insurance�and even eye exams. Our savvy insiders share their top cost-cutting secrets.