April 15, 2010
Understanding What Health Reform Means for SHIPs and Medicare Beneficiaries
As credible and trusted sources of information on Medicare for members of your community, we recognize that in the coming months SHIPs will be asked a number of questions about the changes to Medicare now that health care reform has successfully been signed into law. The new law includes immediate and key changes to the Medicare program that will affect beneficiaries’ access to care and SHIP program operations, including:
- The elimination of cost-sharing amounts for preventive services covered under Medicare, beginning January 1, 2011.
- Immediate relief for beneficiaries who reach the Medicare Part D drug benefit coverage gap or “doughnut hole” by providing a $250 rebate, effective 2010; a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs, effective 2011; the gradual phase down by 2020 of coinsurance costs for beneficiaries who have reached the coverage gap, from 100 percent to 25 percent, through federal subsidies for brand-name and generic drugs.
- Moving and extending the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP) for Medicare Part D plans to start on October 15 and end on December 7, effective in 2011 for the 2012 plan year.
To help you better understand these and other changes, HAP is compiling resources in a Health Reform Resource Center. Over the next few months, HAP will also develop education and training materials, including fact sheets, for SHIPs and their partners on the key changes to Medicare as a result of health reform. This effort is made possible by a grant from The Atlantic Philanthropies.
If you have an idea for a tool or resource to help explain the upcoming changes to the Medicare program, please contact us at SHIPhelp@hapnetwork.org.
Sincerely,
The HAP Team
[Back to Archive | HAP Home]
