Guidance for Advocates to Help People Move from Expansion Medicaid to Medicare Last week, the Medicare Rights Center and the National Council on Aging (NCOA) released a new resource on the expansion Medicaid-toMedicare transition process. Our Expansion Medicaid Transitions Guide is designed, in part, to help advocates learn about their state’s transition process and better assist clients when they need to switch from expansion Medicaid to Medicare. The guide includes terminology, an overview of select state processes, and some troubleshooting steps advocates can consider when encountering problems. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) gave states the option to expand their Medicaid programs to cover low-income adults aged 19-64. To date, 34 states and the District of Columbia have officially expanded their programs, and voters in three states—Idaho, Nebraska, and Utah—recently approved ballot initiatives to do. Expansion
Medicaid rules explicitly forbid individuals from being enrolled in both this form of Medicaid and Medicare. This means that as a person becomes Medicare eligible, they lose their eligibility for expansion Medicaid and must leave that program and enroll in Medicare. Advocates in many states report problems with helping people make this transition. Some states have relatively seamless processes while others do little to smooth the way. Inadequate state efforts to facilitate these transitions can leave people confused and, in the worst scenarios, in a coverage gap or with premiums or cost sharing they cannot afford. Given inconsistent state involvement and the high stakes for enrollees, help for advocates is long overdue. This new guide is a continuation of an earlier issue brief from Medicare Rights and NCOA, “Toward Seamless
Coverage: Expansion Medicaid to Medicare Transitions,” which laid out many of the problems people with expansion Medicaid and their advocates can face in understanding these transitions. The difficulties in moving into Medicare from expansion Medicaid are just one example of the many issues people can encounter as they approach Medicare eligibility. The rules and timing for enrolling in Medicare are surprisingly complex and can result in people missing their enrollment windows, having coverage gaps, or facing a lifetime of late enrollment penalties. Since thousands of people become eligible for Medicare every day, this means the number of people at risk for confusion and mistakes is growing. In addition to developing resources like the advocates guide, Medicare Rights supports efforts to address the challenges
created by Medicare’s complex enrollment rules through legislative solutions, like the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act. This commonsense legislation would empower beneficiaries to make optimal enrollment choices, while modernizing and simplifying the process itself. We also support adequately funding community-based organizations that provide outreach and benefits enrollment assistance to lowincome Medicare beneficiaries and State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs) that provide one-onone counseling to help people make informed Medicare coverage choices. Read the new Expansion Medicaid Transitions Guide. Read our issue brief Toward Seamless Coverage.
Seniors Voted to Protect & Expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid During this election cycle, Social Security Works PAC endorsed 75 candidates, all of whom support expanding Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid along with taking on big pharma to bring down the outrageous cost of prescription drugs. The vast majority of these candidates are Democrats
in tight races, many of whom have already declared victory tonight. Jon “Bowzer” Bauman of Sha Na Na fame, President of Social Security Works PAC, held 57 in-person endorsement events across the country. Below is a statement from Bauman in response to the news
that Democrats have won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives: “Tonight, nearly half of seniors supported Democrats, voting to protect and expand Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. That is a massive shift from the 2014 midterms, when older
voters overwhelmingly backed Republicans. This election presented the clearest contrast between the two parties in decades, with Democrats united in support of expanding benefits while Republicans used their $2 trillion tax handout to the wealthy as an excuse to demand cuts.”
2018 ARA National Membership Meeting in Las Vegas, NV. Delegates from Connecticut and Massachusetts join RI ARA Vice-president Roger Boudreau who represents the New England region on the ARA national Executive Board. The three-day membership meeting focused on post-election planning for legislative action on Medicare and Medicaid, as well as protecting and expanding Social Security. Protecting pensions and intergenerational communication were addressed in plenary sessions. Delegates were also treated to a luncheon keynote speaker, NFL Players Association Nolan Harrison, Senior Director of Former Player Services. The New England caucus also met over lunch to discuss ways to expand and strengthen the chapters in our region. Two very important resolutions that were submitted by the New England Regional Chapters, were passed 1. Resolution Opposing the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision 2. RESOLUTION WITH RESPECT TO ACCESSIBILITY AND THE INFRASTRUCTURE on behalf of the Citizens Coalition for Equal Access Rhode Island Alliance for Retired Americans, Inc. • 94 Cleveland Street • North Providence, RI • 02904-3525 • 401-480-8381 riarajap@hotmail.com • http://www.facebook.com/groups/354516807278/