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Frequently Asked Questions for Seniors and Medicare

Given the complexity of the Obamacare, senior citizens obviously have a lot of unanswered questions in their minds, particularly when it comes to the issue of Medicare. Here we'll address the most frequently asked questions of Medicare and Health Care Reform vis-à-vis seniors:

Will my Medicare benefits be cut due to Health Care Reform?

Traditional Medicare benefits will not be experiencing any cuts; however Medicare Advantage, the program that uses private insurance companies to provide coverage to seniors, will undergo increased scrutiny. Approximately 25% of Medicare enrollees use Medicare Advantage. Many Medicare Advantage providers offer extra coverage and some of those extras could be dropped and the cost of policies increased as subsidies will be reduced. It is possible that some insurance companies will stop offering Medicare Advantage policies altogether.

What is the $250 rebate check that some seniors are receiving?

Under Medicare Part D's Prescription Drug coverage, many senior citizens were shocked to find a major gap in coverage benefits. This gap, commonly known as the 'donut hole' of Medicare Part D, provided prescription drug benefits for costs up to $2,830, but then coverage inexplicably stopped until total drug costs reached $6,440. Within that gap, Medicare beneficiaries were forced to pay the full costs of prescriptions out of pocket. Health Care Reform provided a $250 rebate check in 2010 to seniors who were currently in the coverage gap, and closed the 'hole' over the next few years.

Are Medicare premiums going to be increased?

Medicare Part D enrollees who earn more than $85,000 ($170,000 for married) will be forced to pay a 'high-income surcharge' for Part D premiums. This high income surcharge is currently in place for Medicare Part B, and for Part B premiums, the average cost can be raised from $96 monthly to $155 monthly or more as a result.

Health Care Reform freezes the high-income surcharge limit on Part B coverage at the current level from 2011 to 2019, rather than allowing increases with inflation. It also imposes this same high-income surcharge on Medicare Part D premiums. The details of the cost of this surcharge have not yet been revealed.

Will health care for senior citizens be rationed?

No, Health Care Reform establishes an Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to reduce the costs of Medicare. The Board is independent of Congress and the Department of Health and Human Services. Some opponents fear it could be used as a mechanism to control Medicare. In fact, many are concerned that the IPAB allows bureaucrats to make changes to Medicare without transparency and accountability to America's senior citizens and their elected officials. It is not a board that will make direct health care decisions regarding a senior citizen, and it is not going to even meet until 2014.