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Health Reform: Changes in Store for the Elderly

After a year of legislative wrangling and premature forecasts of death, historic legislation overhauling the nation’s health insurance system passed the Congress and has been signed into law by President Obama.  Among some of the highlights, this legislation contains:  

  • The nation’s first publicly funded national long-term care insurance program, the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act;  
  • A number of provisions aimed at ending Medicaid’s “institutional bias,” which forces elderly and disabled individuals in many states to move to nursing homes;
  • Provisions that will help protect nursing home residents and other long-term care recipients from abuses, and give families of nursing home residents more information about the facilities their loved ones are living in or considering moving to. 

Community Living Assistance Services and Supports (CLASS) Act

The reasons for the CLASS Act, according to the U.S. Senate, are as follows:

  • Long-term supports and services are not affordable or accessible for millions of Americans.
  • An estimated 65 percent of those who are 65 today will spend some time at home in need of long-term care services, at an average cost of $18,000 per year.
  • Five million people under age 65 living in the community have long-term care needs and over 70,000 workers with severe disabilities need daily assistance to maintain their jobs and their independence.
  • One and a half million Americans are currently in nursing homes today. Roughly 9 million elderly Americans will need help with activities of daily living (ADLs) during the current year, and by 2030 that number will increase to 14 million.
  • Many people who need long term services and supports rely on unpaid family and friends to provide that care, but ultimately are forced to impoverish themselves to qualify for Medicaid, which remains the primary payer for these services.

How the CLASS Act Works

  • The CLASS Act will provide a lifetime cash benefit that offers people with disabilities some protection against the costs of paying for long term services and supports, and helps them remain in their homes and communities.
  • CLASS is a voluntary, self-funded, insurance program with enrollment for people who are currently employed. Affordable premiums will be paid through payroll deductions if an individual’s employer decides to participate in the program. Participation by workers is entirely voluntary.
  • Self-employed people or those whose employers do not offer the benefit will also be able to join the CLASS program through a government payment mechanism.
  • Individuals qualify to receive benefits when they need help with certain activities of daily living, have paid premiums for five years, and have worked at least three of those five years.
  • Once qualified, beneficiaries will receive a lifetime cash benefit based on the degree of impairment, which is expected to average roughly $75 per day.
  • These benefits are intended to help maintain independence at home or in the community, and can be used to offset the costs of assistive living and nursing home care.

While helpful for some seniors, this benefit is fairly minimal for those of us living in the Northern Virgina area, as $75 per day won’t go very far.  In the Northern Virgina area, the average cost for home health ranges from around $18 – $22 per hour; for Assisted Living facilities from around $3,500 per month to $7,000 per month; and for Nursing Homes from around $6,000 per month to $10,000 per month.

Help for Medicare Recipients and Early Retirees

Of great interest to many seniors, the new health care law will eventually close the Medicare Part D coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole.” As most seniors know, the Medicare Part D prescription drug program covers medications up to $2,830 a year (in 2010), and then stops until the beneficiary’s out-of-pocket spending reaches $4,550 in the year, when coverage begins again. Many seniors fall into this “doughnut hole” around Labor Day, at which point they have to pay for the medications out of pocket through the end of the year.

The new law starts the process of closing the gap by providing a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who fall into the doughnut hole in 2010. Then, beginning in 2011 there will be a 50 percent discount on prescription drugs in the gap, and the gap will be closed completely by 2020, with beneficiaries covering only 25 percent of the cost of drugs up until they have spend so much on prescriptions that Medicare’s catastrophic coverage kicks in, at which point copayments drop to 5 percent.

Starting January 1, 2011, Medicare will provide free preventive care: no co-payments and no deductibles for preventive services such as glaucoma screening and diabetes self-management. Also, the legislation increases reimbursements to doctors who provide primary care, increasing access to these services for people with Medicare.

The law provides help for early retirees by creating a temporary re-insurance program that will help offset the costs of expensive health claims for employers that provide health benefits for retirees age 55-64. Scheduled to run from June 21, 2010 through January 1, 2014, the reinsurance program will pay 80 percent of eligible claim expenses incurred between $15,000 and $90,000.

The law calls for an increased Medicare premium for those individuals earning more than $200,000 a year and married couples whose income exceeds $250,000. The law also applies the Medicare payroll tax to net investment income for couples earning more than $250,000 a year or individuals earning more than $200,000 a year.

Most of the cost savings in the law are in the Medicare program, which has made many seniors fearful that their benefits will be cut. The cost-saving measures do not affect the basic Medicare benefits to which all enrollees are entitled, but they may affect those enrolled in private Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare has been paying insurers who offer these plans more than it spends on average for Medicare beneficiaries. The original idea of Medicare Advantage was to save money by paying them less, the idea being that private insurers could be more efficient than the federal government. The opposite turned out to be the case.

Health care reform will pay the private insurers less, meaning that some will choose not to continue their plans and others will curtail extra benefits they offer enrollees, such as reimbursement for gym membership or free eyeglasses. But the cuts will be gradual, with the largest not beginning until 2015. The law also offers bonuses to efficiently run Advantage plans.

Another provision in the law will cut Medicare payment to nursing homes by about $15 billion over the next decade. Although Medicare does not pay for long-term care in nursing homes, Medicare does, in certain limited situations, pay for short-term rehabilitation in nursing homes, and Medicare’s payment to nursing homes for such short-term rehabilitation has been significantly higher what Medicaid pays to nursing homes.

Beware of Scammers

The new law has also created opportunities for scam artists, some of whom are peddling bogus policies through 1-800 numbers and by going door to door, claiming there’s a limited open-enrollment period to buy health insurance, warns secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. For more on the fraud alert, click here.  


For the full text of the the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, click here.

For the full text of the Reconciliation Act of 2010, click here

More links:

Health Reform Implementation Timeline

Health Insurance Reform: A Guide for Seniors

Consumers Guide to Health Reform

Democratic Policy Committee Summary & Analysis of the two enactments

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Section by Section Analysis

Summary of The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act

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About Evan H Farr, CELA, CAP

Evan H. Farr is a 4-time Best-Selling author in the field of Elder Law and Estate Planning. In addition to being one of approximately 500 Certified Elder Law Attorneys in the Country, Evan is one of approximately 100 members of the Council of Advanced Practitioners of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys and is a Charter Member of the Academy of Special Needs Planners.

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