Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Meehan outlines stance on Obamacare
UPPER DARBY >> In town to talk about the so-called Medicare “enrollment trap” resulting in lifetime penalties, U.S. Rep. Patrick Meehan, R-7 of Chadds Ford, took on another topic: Repealing and replacing the Affordable Care Act.
Meehan sided with the 227-198 majority, mostly along party lines, last week to begin the budgetary process of unraveling the healthinsurance law, commonly called Obamacare. The act has provided health care to 20 million Americans who did not have it previously. According to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, 439,000 state residents selected health care from HealthCare.gov last year.
Meehan’s voted repeatedly over the years to kill the program, but said Wednesday the latest move by Congress is only the beginning of a process.
“It’s an authorization,” he said. “It allows us to begin the process. It changes nothing unto itself but it allows the committees to begin the process of looking at what I call the rescue and repair of the issues that have been affected from the Affordable Care Act.”
Some key provisions of the law would remain, he said, adding that the escalating health insurance costs need to be addressed.
Meehan outlined what he expected would be included in a GOP program.
“One of the things that we’ll clearly keep the same is the coverage for those up until the age of 26, the assurance that we are
allowing people with preexisting conditions ... not to be denied the opportunity to have the same coverage into the future,” he said. “Those are important guarantees that we want to make sure that people are going to have as part of it.”
However, certain portions need to be re-evaluated, Meehan said, including price.
“We’re dealing with the explosive costs that have affected the 155 million other Americans that have seen an average of $4,300 in new costs,” he said. “Individuals have seen their deductibles go up 60 percent.”
Meehan said deductibles have increased from $900 up to $1,500 annually before insurance coverage kicks in.
Then, he added, there are
the shrinking network of insurers in the program.
“We had 13 Affordable Care Act potential programs in Pennsylvania last year, now we’re only going to have eight,” Meehan said. “In those eight, the networks of doctors that will see you are becoming narrower and narrower.”
“These,” Meehan added, “are the elements of what is a very broken system. We’re talking about a very small percentage of those in the Affordable Care Act vs. many Americans who have other types of coverage including Medicare who won’t be affected.”
According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, more than 287 million Americans had heath coverage in 2015. Of those, 155 million received benefits from their employer; 62 million from Medicaid; 43 million from Medicare; and the remainder from other sources.
Meehan spoke at the Pilgrim Gardens Senior Center about his re-introduction of the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification Act to address what he described as the “Medicare enrollment trap” rising with Medicare Part B.
“Every day, more than 10,000 Americans will turn age 65,” he said, adding that they are required to enroll in Medicare Part B at that time. “The failure to do so can lead to penalties – penalties that can last a lifetime.”
As Americans are working longer, some choose to defer enrollment with this part of Medicare, which can lead to penalties of up to $440 a year, Meehan explained.
In addition, the enrollment period for Medicare Part B is between January and March, but the benefits aren’t effective until July.
If people require medical attention in that interim, Meehan said, “The entirety of that visit will go back on the individual until they can get to that period of coverage.”
Charles Sage of Woodlyn said he was penalized for not signing up.
He took early retirement
at age 62 and had Blue Cross insurance. He said he received conflicting information about whether he was to sign up for Medicare or not and was eventually sent a letter saying he couldn’t have both private insurance and Medicare.
As a result, Sage dropped his private insurance and signed up with Medicare, which won’t be effective until July.
“I have to hope I stay healthy until then,” Sage said.
Candy MacFarland of Collegeville did the paperwork for her veteran husband, Ray, and also found the process confusing between the Veterans Administration and Medicare officials.
“It’s really involved in what is covered and what’s not covered,” she said. “You’re not necessarily getting the right information but I don’t know where you go to get the right information.”
Cindy Hunter of Lansdale was on Social Security Disability as a stage 4 ovarian cancer survivor.
She explained she never planned on retiring as a teacher due to her love of her job but she was unable to work because of her sickness.
When she turned 62 last April, she received a Medicare card in the mail but disregarded it as she was on her husband’s insurance.
“We decided that we would be overinsured,” she
explained, adding that they were paying $700 per person monthly. “I sent the card back.”
It wasn’t until she went to get a flu shot in October that she was told neither Medicare or her insurance were going to pay. She wasn’t enrolled in Medicare Part B and her insurance company assumed Medicare was paying 80 percent of her bills.
“I didn’t have the Medicare, so all of a sudden, I get all these bills for thousands of dollars,” Hunter said.
Eventually, through much time and advocacy, she was able to get the bills addressed. However, she said it was no easy task.
“If I’m 62 and I’m healthy, ... how are people going to figure it out if they’re older and they have a lot of other things wrong with them?” she asked.
Meehan is hoping his bill would begin to address some of these concerns.
It would require the federal government to send one notice six months in advance of when someone becomes eligible for Part B and then another notice one month prior to their eligibility.
In addition, those who sign up for this coverage between January and March do not receive coverage until July. The act would provide coverage for April through June of the year of enrollment, shortening the coverage time, and would also cover gaps in the General Enrollment Period.
Meehan sided with the 227198 majority, mostly along party lines, last week to begin the budgetary process of unraveling the healthinsurance law, commonly called Obamacare.