Medicare Part D
From dKosopedia
Medicare Part D is the name given to the section of benifits covering perscription drugs under the Medicare health insurance program administered by the United States government, which covers people who are either age 65 and over, or who meet other special criteria.
Medicare Part D went into effect on January 1, 2006. Anyone with Part A or B is eligible for Part D. It was made possible by the passage of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act. In order to receive this benefit, a person with Medicare must enroll in a stand-alone Prescription Drug Plan (PDP) or Medicare Advantage plan with prescription drug coverage (MA-PD). These plans are approved and regulated by the Medicare program, but are actually administered by private health insurance companies.
Recent Senate hearings on Part D prescription plans reveal a sizable coverage gap, e.g. "Donut Hole", that requires seniors to pay the full cost of drugs when the cost runs between $2250 and $5100.[1] These hearings also revealed that while the Veterans Administration has been allowed to negotiate the cost of prescriptions provided to its beneficiaries, the federal government, on behalf of Medicare, has been specifically disallowed by legislation from negotiating prices for the same medications. This cost difference has been shown to cost non-VA consumers as much as $1000 extra per month, per prescription.
In 2003 Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act, which President George W. Bush signed into law on December 8, 2003. Part of this legislation included fixing loop holes in the Medicare Secondary Payer Act that was enacted in 1980. By fixing the loopholes, Congress strengthened the Workers' Compensation Medicare Set-Aside Program (WCMSA) that is monitored and administered by CMS.
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Resources
Important legislation
- 1965 PL 89-97 Medicaid
- 1997 PL 105-33 Balanced Budget Act (Children’s Health Insurance Program)
- 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act
See Also
References
- This article uses material from the Wikipedia article "Medicare".
External links
Governmental links - current
- CMS official web site at cms.hhs.gov
- Medicare at cms.hhs.gov
- Medicare.gov — the official website for people with Medicare
- Official Medicare publications at Medicare.gov — includes official publications about current Medicare benefits
- Medicare & You handbook for 2007 at Medicare.gov — includes information about current Medicare benefits
- Information about the 1-800-MEDICARE helpline from Medicare.gov — a 24X7 toll-free number to call with questions about Medicare
- Medicare Modernization Act at Medicare.gov
- Medicare Plan Choices at Medicare.gov — basic information about plan choices for Medicare beneficiaries, including MA Plans
- Medicare Personal Plan Finder at Medicare.gov — more detailed information about MA Plans; can do tailored searches
- Prescription Drug Coverage homepage at Medicare.gov — a central location for Medicare's web-based information about the Part D benefit
- Enroll in a Medicare Prescription Drug Plan at Medicare.gov — the web-based tool for enrolling online in a Part D plan
- Landscape of plans — state-by-state breakdown of all plans available in an area, both stand-alone PDPs, as well as MA-PD plans
- Official Medicare publications at Medicare.gov — includes official publications about current Medicare benefits
- MyMedicare.gov — Medicare's secure online service where beneficiaries can access their own personal Medicare information
Governmental links - historical
- Medicare Is Signed Into Law page from ssa.gov — material about the bill-signing ceremony
- Historical Background and Development of Social Security from ssa.gov — includes information about Medicare
- Detailed Chronology of SSA from ssa.gov — includes information about Medicare
- Early Medicare poster from ssa.gov
Non-governmental links
- Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports related to Medicare from the University of Texas Libraries
- Medicare Rights Center — Education and advocacy organization.
- Kaiser Family Foundation — Wide range of free information, including a drug benefit calculator, about the Medicare program and other U.S. health issues.
- State Health Facts — Data on health care spending and utilization, including Medicare; provided by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
- HealthDecisions.org — Medicare information from America’s Health Insurance Plans (a national association of American health insurers).
- Issue Guide on Medicare — Policy alternatives and public opinion analysis on Medicare from Public Agenda Online
- MedicareLawWiki — A non-commercial (no advertising, no services offered) wiki for lawyers to share specialized knowledge about Medicare law (registration required).
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