Americans With Disabilities Suffer Without Health Care And Incur Debt During Two

[Guest guest]

Americans With Disabilities Suffer Without Health Care And Incur

Debt During Two-Year Wait For Medicare Coverage, Report Finds

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=67557

Some 600,000 Americans with severe and debilitating disabilities are

uninsured and go without health care or into debt while waiting the

required two years for their Medicare coverage to begin, according

to a report released today by the Medicare Rights Center.

" Congress must eliminate the cruel and arbitrary two-year wait for

Medicare which punishes Americans who are hit by severe illness or

injuries that make it impossible to keep working, " said M.

, president of the Medicare Rights Center, a national consumer

service organization.

" This report chronicles the devastating health and financial toll

that the waiting period takes on the lives of hard-working Americans

who are stranded without health coverage after they become

disabled, " said Mr. , an author of the report published by The

Commonwealth Fund.

People who are deemed disabled by the Social Security Administration

due to incapacitating health problems rendering them unable to work

are not eligible for Medicare until 24 months after they receive

their first Social Security Disability Income benefit.

Nearly seven million people under age 65 qualify for Medicare

because they have severe and permanent disabilities. About 1.5

million Americans are in the Medicare waiting period. Twelve percent

of people in the Medicare waiting period die each year while waiting

for their coverage to begin.

In " Too Sick to Work, Too Soon for Medicare: The Human Cost of the

Two-Year Medicare Waiting Period for Americans with Disabilities, "

21 people with disabilities share their experiences while waiting

for Medicare after leaving work due to a variety of reasons

including cancer, chronic cardiac conditions, a car accident and

debilitating injuries.

These real-life stories illustrate how people with disabilities

waiting for Medicare struggle to pay for health care. Some pay

premiums for COBRA coverage but soon find the premiums unaffordable

on disability income. Others qualify for Medicaid coverage initially

but lose eligibility when their disability income begins (five

months after being deemed disabled by the Social Security

Administration). Other people interviewed spend their savings to pay

for private health insurance but quickly discover that the premiums

are unaffordable or private insurers will not cover someone with a

pre-existing condition.

During the year-long interviewing process some of the " Too Soon to

Work, Too Soon for Medicare " project participants finally get

Medicare and express tremendous relief that they will at last have

coverage and be able to see health care providers of their choice.

Others never live to get their Medicare coverage.

Analyses have shown providing men and women with Medicare at the

time that Social Security certifies them as disabled would cost $8.7

billion annually. This cost would be partially offset by $4.3

billion in reduced Medicaid spending by Medicaid, which many

individuals get for some time during the waiting period.

In a letter sent to Congress today, patient advocates including the

United Cerebral Palsy, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Easter

Seals and Paralyzed Veterans of America join the Medicare Rights

Center in calling for Congress to eliminate the Medicare waiting

period.

The two-year 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.

www.medicarerights.org