Medicare Watch, part II

Information that needs to be seen!

January/February 2010 | Volume 4, Issue 1


The Medicare Counselor is a free publication of the Medicare Rights Center. Each issue will address timely topics that will help you—social workers, health care providers and other professionals—keep up-to-date on important Medicare issues that affect the well-being of your clients.

In this issue:

What Happens to Social Security Benefits in 2010? For the first time since its inception in 1975, there will be no cost-ofliving adjustment (COLA) in 2010. In this article, we explain why this is and how this affects your Part B premium. Read the full article.
What You Need to Know About Part D Plans in the New Year. The year-end frenzy of Part D plan-switching–the Annual Coordinated Election Period–has come to an end. Now it is time to analyze the plan you have chosen. For 2010, most details of Part D plans remain the same. But plans sometimes switch the particular drugs they cover, and this year most Part D plans have new, higher costs. Read the full article.
Deciphering MIPPA. On July 15th, 2008, the Senate and the House voted to override President George Bush’s veto of the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA). With its passage came far-ranging and sweeping changes to the way Medicare is administered, and how providers are paid. These changes will develop over the next few years, with most provisions taking effect in 2010 or later. Importantly, parts of MIPPA interact with enrollment in Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs) and Extra Help (Low-Income Subsidy, or LIS). Here, we will focus on the changes relating to MSPs and LIS, and note how they will affect you in the new year. Read the full article.
Helpful Charts. We have included convenient charts, making the new Part A and B costs easily accessible with a quick glance. Read the full article.
The current issue of The Medicare Counselor can always be found online at www.medicarerights.org/thecounselor.pdf.

If you have questions about your Medicare benefits or rights, please call the Medicare Rights Center's national hotline at 800-333-4114. The hotline is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Eastern Time.

The Medicare Counselor is in presented to you in PDF format. To view it, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader or another program that reads PDF files. If you do not already have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you can download it.

Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The Medicare Counselor
For more information go to: medicarerights.org