|
Medicare Changes for 2010 |
|
|
|
Medicare is defined as social insurance program in the United States that is administered by the United States government which provides health insurance coverage to people that are 65 years of age or older. The Social Security Act of 1965 created Medicare and the first beneficiary was former United States President Harry S. Truman when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the bill into law on July 30, 1965. Medicare is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is a component of the Department of Health and Human Services. Coming in the year 2010 there will be a handful of changes to the way Medicare is run in the United States.
One of the major changes that Medicare will go through in the year 2010 is that the old plans of A through G will be removed from the system and new plans A through G will be instituted into the system. The change that will not be made is that people already in the old A through G plans will be grandfathered into the system and will stay within the old A through G plans. Anyone signing up for Medicare in 2010 will be entered into the new A through G plans. In an interesting turn of events, people entering the new A through G plans will be in plans that are exactly the same as the old A through G plans. Anyone sitting in the A through G plans at the time of the change (June 1, 2010) will be in what is called closed risk pools. Anyone in a closed risk pool will tend to pay higher prices for their Medicare supplement insurance coverage.
There are a couple of plans that will be eliminated altogether once Medicare enacts its changes on June 1, 2010. The plans that will be eliminated altogether are E, H, I and J. The preventive care benefit and the at-home recovery benefits will also be eliminated when Medicare enacts its changes in 2010. Medicare Supplement Plan M and Plan N will be introduced to Medicare on June 1, 2010 to replace Plan F. These two plans bring a $20 co-pay for doctor visits and a $50 co-pay for emergency room visits. A hospice care benefits is also going to be added all Medicare Supplement Plans.
Each different Medicare plan offered by Medicare has different benefits for the elderly to choose from when signing up for a Medicare plan. These plans must follow all state and federal laws that protect consumers. Prices for the same plan vary from state to state because they are sold by different insurance companies across the country. Other plan changes being offered by Medicare include increased rates for deductibles, the reduction of PFFS plans, and other plan changes. November 15, 2009 begins the open enrollment period for people wanting to make changes to their Medicare plans and the open enrollment period ends on December 31, 2009 for the 2010 changes. Subscribers are encouraged to review their Medicare plans as soon as possible to make sure they do not need to make any changes.
|
