Topic: Medicare

Did You Know Medicare Enrollment Is Earlier This Year?

It is that time of year again: Medicare enrollment period starts earlier this year...on October 15 and runs through December 7.

Professional Education for Nurses, Social Workers, and others

Turning 65? It's a Special Birthday!

Need Help with Your Prescriptions?

Our Senior Advocacy program is designed to help you understand Medicare issues clearly.

Call our program manager David Hooper at 816-444-1121 ext 104.

Medicare Counseling

As the Boomers start turning 65 the number of individuals seeking Medicare counseling is increasing. This is evident here at Shepherd’s Center Central where the number of individuals served through our Medicare Counseling program doubled to 700 this last year. Our Medicare Program serves a wide variety of individuals of different ages, races and income levels. A third of the individuals served are under the age of 65 and receiving Medicare due to a disability and 20% are caregivers who are assisting a loved one who receives Medicare.

Anyone with questions regarding Medicare and insurance can use this service at no charge. The most common questions asked of our staff and trained volunteers are about Medicare, prescription drug coverage and medical insurance. Our staff and volunteers take the time to listen and provide you with current and accurate information. This may require several phone calls or office visits. So, no matter your age, race or income, Medicare Counseling is available through Shepherd’s Center Central. Let us help answer your questions and ease your stress.

Actions Helpful to Senior Citizens in Health Care Bill Promoted by Senate Aging Chairman

Provisions are from bills championed by Sen. Herb Kohl to provide better health care to seniors

March 23, 2010 – Several provisions of the Health Care Reform Bill that was signed into law this morning by President Obama were long-championed by the Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI). All were supported by Kohl as being helpful to senior citizens.

The provisions pushed by Kohl that are now law include the following.

• The Physician Payments Sunshine Act (S. 301), a bipartisan policy that requires disclosure of gifts and payments given to doctors from the pharmaceutical, biologic, and medical device industries. 

For over two years, Kohl has been investigating the nature of financial relationships between doctors and industry.  This provision will work to expose conflicts of interest that arise when physicians receive financial benefits from drug and device makers. Click Continue Reading to view the full article.

Doctors warn about impending medicare cuts

By Mannix Porterfield
The Register-Herald 

CHARLESTON — Time is growing short and pressure is mounting on America’s doctors to persuade Congress to repair what they perceive as a “flawed” Medicare payment system that threatens health care delivery to the nation’s seniors, military personnel and Baby Boomers.

That was the thrust of a news briefing Tuesday at the Capitol, designed to call attention to a planned March 1 cut of 21 percent in the program. Click Continue Reading to view the full article.

Lawmakers agree to scale back tax on health insurance plans

By DAVID LIGHTMAN AND MARGARET

The White House, congressional leaders and union officials on Thursday announced a tentative agreement in their health care negotiations, to pare back a proposed excise tax on high-end insurance policies for middle-class workers.

The compromise could break a deadlock in the health care debate - if enough lawmakers agree to it. Many details were unresolved, however - everything from how much the pared back tax would cost, to how a government health care exchange that collective bargaining units and employers might buy into over time would be structured.

Lawmakers hoped to finish negotiating an overhaul plan this weekend. Click Continue Reading to view the full article.

New poll shows support for Baby Boomer Medicare by Paul Briand

The U.S. Senate is moving in a direction contrary to a majority of the nation's hopes for health care reform, according to a new poll from NBC and the Wall Street Journal.

Not only do a majority of Americans favor a public option, a majority also favors, as a substitute, an expanded Medicare program for Baby Boomers aged 55 to 64.

According to the poll, 45 percent of Americans found it "not acceptable" that the current legislation "would no longer create a public health care plan administered by the federal government to compete directly with private health insurance companies." Click continue reading for the full article.

Medicare Payment Issues Worry Doctors

From: http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Daily-Reports/2009/October/27/Medicare-payment.aspx 

The issue of Medicare payment cuts to doctors still looms, causing some physicians to shun Medicare patients and others to push for greater reform. Many worry that doctors may boycott the program if the planned 21 percent cut in payment rates goes through in 2010 while others complain about low Medicare reimbursement rates for certain procedures and geographic areas. 

CNNMoney looks at the concerns of physicians at Kansas City Internal Medicine, the city's largest private group practice with about 65 percent of its nearly 70,000 active patients age 65 or older. Many physicians in the practice have "stopped accepting walk-in Medicare enrollees." Dr. David "Wilt and his colleagues say they are shunning the area's growing senior population because they believe Medicare doesn't reimburse physicians enough to cover the cost of care. ... Wilt -- and doctors with lots of senior patients -- are especially troubled by a 21% cut in Medicare payments to physicians scheduled to take place in 2010. Last week, the Senate voted against stopping that cut, and more annual cuts over the next decade, from taking place. ... Physicians say a boycott against Medicare has already begun because they are tired of dealing with the yearly threat of a payment cut." Click continue reading to view the full article.