Over One Million People With Severe Disabilities Stranded Without Medicare Cover

[Guest guest]

Over One Million People With Severe Disabilities Stranded Without

Medicare Coverage, USA

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=44961

On the one-year anniversary of the introduction of a bill to

eliminate the 24-month waiting period that people with debilatating

disabilities must endure before their Medicare coverage begins, the

Medicare Rights Center is pleading with the Senate Finance

Committee " to at least hold a hearing on this federal policy that

creates unspeakable human suffering. "

In a letter to Senator Grassley, the chair of the Senate

Finance Committee, and Senator Max Baucus, the ranking Democrat,

M. , president of the Medicare Rights Center, said: " How

long can Congress close its eyes to the misery of Americans who

played by the rules, paid their taxes, and suddenly find themselves

unable to work because of severe disability? "

" This obsolete policy keeps men and women from needed health care

just when they need it most: when they face long term disability and

lose their health insurance along with their employment. "

" Forcing severely disabled people to wait two years for Medicare not

only ends up costing the government more, it costs lives, " said Mr.

.

About 1.2 million people with disabilities are in the 24-month

Medicare waiting period and at least 400,000 have no health care

coverage. Four percent of people die each year while waiting for

their Medicare to begin, according to a study by the non-partisan

Commonwealth Fund.

The proportion of people in the waiting period who have no health

insurance is likely higher today, because health insurance is less

accessible and less affordable. With employer health care coverage

eroding and health insurance premiums rising, COBRA coverage is

either not available or out of reach for many people who become

disabled and can no longer work. People with a long work history or

who had even a modest employment income are not eligible for Medicaid

coverage because the amount of Social Security Disability Income they

receive makes them not poor enough to qualify.

" Becoming qualified for disability income is a long and arduous

process in itself, " said Mr. , " and research shows that delaying

critical treatment leads to new health problems and ultimately more

costly. "

" It's time for Congress to abolish this 24-month wait, " Mr.

added.

Senators Jeff Bingaman (D-New Mexico) and Mike DeWine (R-Ohio)

introduced S. 1217 last June to eliminate the 24-month Medicare

waiting period for people deemed by the Social Security

Administration to be unable to continue working because of severe and

permanent disabilities. The bill is stalled in the Senate Finance

Committee where a hearing has yet to be held.

The waiting period was originally established in 1972 when Medicare

was extended to people with disabilities. Today there are two

exceptions: people who are disabled due to amyotrophic lateral

sclerosis (ALS) or end-stage renal disease.

The Medicare Rights Center is chronicling the lives of people with

disabilities who are in the waiting period and people whose Medicare

coverage just became effective after the two-year wait.

Medicare Rights Center (MRC) is the largest independent source of

Medicare information and assistance in the United States. Founded in

1989, MRC helps older adults and people with disabilities get high-

quality, affordable health care.

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http://www.medicarerights.org