January 26, 2011 HHS Regional Director discusses The Affordable Care Act with older adults at Southwest Senior Center in Minneapolis
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATE:
January 26, 2011
CONTACT:
Kim Rymer
Communications Director
Volunteers of America-Minnesota
612-267-7622, krymer@voamn.org
HHS Regional Director discusses The Affordable Care Act with older adults at Southwest Senior Center in Minneapolis
(Minneapolis, January 26)—Today, Cristal Thomas, Regional Director, Region V, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services discussed The Affordable Care Act and its impact on Medicare with approximately 75 older adults at Volunteers of America-Minnesota’s Southwest Senior Center in Minneapolis.
At the beginning of her presentation, Cristal Thomas explained to seniors that as Regional Director of HHS, she has had the opportunity to travel throughout the upper Midwest and talk to thousands of people about The Affordable Care Act (ACA). Ms. Thomas said, “What I’ve found is that you may hear a lot about health care reform, but all the talk is political with some people saying it’s bad and others saying its good, but no one is really explaining what it means for you and the people you care about.”
“There is a lot in [The Affordable Care Act],” she stated, “but all those pages can be broken down into five major themes:
1) It expands health insurance coverage, especially for our most vulnerable populations, such as those with pre-existing conditions and those who are uninsured today.
2) It improves access to services by training new doctors and nurses, building new community health clinics and guaranteeing access to essential services.
3) It reduces costs by making health care more affordable.
4) It makes investments to improve the quality of care.
5) It invests in prevention and public health so that we do a better job of keeping people healthy rather than spending more to care for them once they become sick.”
But what exactly does The Affordable Care Act mean for older adults?
“The good news is that The Affordable Care Act contains many benefits for seniors,” Ms. Thomas reported. “First of all, I want you to know that the ACA protects the Medicare program. It does not cut the Medicare program or any of the traditional Medicare benefits. Secondly, it improves certain benefits such as the Medicare Part-D Prescription Drug Benefit. The ACA provides important relief to Medicare enrollees who fall into the donut hole. Last year, we sent $250 rebate checks to seniors in the donut hole to help them with the costs of prescription drugs. So far, 56,000 Minnesotans have received these rebate checks. These checks were the first step in a 10-year plan to close the donut hole entirely.”
She indicated that this year, Medicare enrollees will receive a 50% discount on their brand name prescription drugs while in the donut hole and that these discounts will continue to grow until the donut hole is completely closed by 2020. Also starting this year, Medicare will cover an annual wellness visit and preventative services with no co-pay. That means older adults will be able to get a physical, cholesterol and blood sugar tests, cancer screenings and other recommended services without any out-of-pocket costs.
Ms. Thomas reported that the ACA also reduces fraud and abuse in the Medicare program to make sure taxes and premiums are paying for care and not for criminals trying to “play” the system. “In fact, earlier this week, my boss HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that we had recovered over $4 billion this year from providers committing Medicare fraud,” she explained. “That is money that can be reinvested to strengthen the Medicare program.”
In all, the changes in The Affordable Care Act are expected to extend the Medicare Trust Fund, which is the fund used to pay for the Medicare program, by an additional 12 years.
Ms. Thomas informed seniors about several ways health reform will improve the quality of care older adults receive. Starting this year, the Affordable Care Act will provide qualifying doctors and other health professionals a 10% bonus for providing quality primary care services to Medicare beneficiaries. This bonus payment will be an incentive for doctors to see Medicare patients and provide the quality services they deserve. The ACA improves quality of long-term care by increasing transparency of information on nursing homes, easing access to home and community based services, and improving training for long-term care workers, as well as funds training and loan repayment as incentives for health professionals to go into primary care fields, including gerontology.
In conclusion, Ms. Thomas said, “We believe it’s so important to protect the Affordable Care Act. I’m sure you’ve heard about the efforts in the House of Representatives to repeal the law. If it’s repealed, all the benefits I’ve talked to you about today would be lost.”
After her presentation, Ms. Thomas answered questions from seniors. Many of the older adults enthusiastically shared with Cristal Thomas how Linda Walker, a social worker at Southwest Center, was instrumental in helping them with enrollment for Medicare Part-D, and how she assisted them in entering prescription drug information into the Medicare website, as well as and helped them to figure out whether on not they should remain with their current plan for the coming year. These seniors felt that her services were invaluable in helping them to sort out complicated Medicare-related issues.
Bethany Snyder, Field Representative for Senator Al Franken, indicated that seniors with questions or concerns about rebate checks (mailed to those in the donut hole to help with the costs of prescription drugs) are invited to contact her office at 651-221-1016 for assistance.
Southwest Center
Southwest Center serves its neighboring Minneapolis community through a wide variety of programs, services and volunteer opportunities that support the health and independence of older adults. The Center strives to be a welcoming environment where seniors feel comfortable socializing and learning ways to enhance their physical and mental health. Southwest's current programs and services include health and nutrition programs, which include senior dining, exercise classes, health screenings with blood pressure and blood sugar checks, presentations on relevant wellness topics, a variety of educational and cultural events, caregiver support services, social work services for Medicare, housing, financial and legal issues, and "DayElders" adult day service.
Volunteers of America-Minnesota
Volunteers of America–Minnesota is a nonprofit organization founded in 1896 which offers a wide variety of services for more than 26,500 children, adolescents and their families, older adults, students, persons with disabilities and special needs, and adults completing rehabilitation programs each year. We are one of the oldest, largest and most comprehensive human service organizations in the state and have more than 60 programs, 900 employees and 13,600 volunteers, and have a rich history of developing innovative programs to meet emerging social issues. We pride ourselves on sponsoring programs which are able to articulate the outcomes achieved in our program participants’ lives. Visit us at: http://www.voamn.org.
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