Tag Archives: medicare

Two years ago when health care reform was on the line, thousands of Washingtonians shared their personal stories — and that helped shape the national debate.

Then, President Obama accomplished what presidents from both parties had tried to do for more than 70 years. He’ll be the first to admit he didn’t do it alone — he was bolstered by people like you who stood up to fight for reform.

Now, as we approach the two-year anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, we want to check in on the progress that’s been made. This is going to be a key issue in this election, and your stories will help show voters how this law is already helping millions.

Share how health care reform has helped you or someone you know.

If you’d rather make a video to tell your story, we’re all for it: Just upload it to YouTube and send us the link.

Before reform, hundreds of thousands of families each year would find themselves on the brink of bankruptcy just because someone got sick. Pre-existing conditions allowed insurance companies to deny coverage to children. A coverage gap for prescription drugs caught seniors by surprise, costing them hundreds of dollars out of pocket.

But then you spoke up and stood with President Obama for change. And on March 23rd, 2010, we made history by helping pass the Affordable Care Act.

Now, two years later, folks are starting to see the real-life impact of reform.

In Washington alone, 2.4 million people no longer have a lifetime limit on coverage; 483,000 women have seen their coverage for preventive services like mammograms expanded; 500,000 seniors and people with disabilities who have Medicare have already received free preventive care; and 52,000 young people who would otherwise be uninsured are staying on their parents’ insurance plans until they turn 26.

This isn’t where the story ends. The other side is bent on taking down the health reform we fought so hard for.

Will you help tell the story of the Affordable Care Act and why it matters to families in Washington, and across the country?

Or, submit a video telling your story:

Thanks,

Jen

Jen O’Malley Dillon
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America

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HCAN has a New website! Defends Affordable Care Act & Medicare&Medicaid

03/01/2012 Nativegrl77

HCAN has a cool new website!

Our goal was to create a visually pleasing site that provides unique information about our federal and state campaigns. HCAN is pushing to defend and implement the Affordable Care Act, protect Medicare and Medicaid, and hold corporations and the GOP accountable for attacking our health care, the public sector, labor unions and all things that benefit the 99%.

On our home page, we highlight our most recent actions, reports and important news items. Scroll down to see a list of the latest Press Releases, a revamped B log and our Grassroots in Action section, which highlights the work of our partners and features videos and photos of actions. The Must Read section has top news stories affecting HCAN’s work, health reform and progressive change. In the HCAN In The News area, we highlight the workHCAN and our partner organizations are doing to ensure access to quality, affordable health care and to expose the role of corporations in undermining our democracy.

Further down the page there are Resources, a little bit more about our organization, and the many ways you can connect to Health Care for America Now through social media.

One of the most useful new features on the site is the Our Issues area, where visitors will find in-depth information about the specific topics we focus on:

Hope that you enjoy using the new site!

Will O’Neill
Health Care for America Now

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Have You Benefited from the Health Care Law? …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

02/24/2012 Nativegrl77


	Join Our Story Blog



	Tell us how the health care law is helping you by sharing your story on our story blog today.

Eighty-six million. That’s the number of people who have received at least one preventive health care service without having to pay a deductible or co-pay in the last year. That’s 54 million people with private insurance and over 32 million Medicare recipients who are already benefiting from the health care law.
Who are these people? It’s a mother who didn’t have to pay a co-pay for her last mammogram, a child who received a flu shot without her parents having to pay a deductible, and millions of people like you who had pap smears, prenatal screenings, or diabetes counseling without having to open their wallets.
Are you one of the millions of people who have benefited from the new health care law? We want to hear from you — join hundreds of others on our story blog and tell us your story.
The story blog is an open forum where people can upload their photos and write about how the law is helping them. On the story blog we’ve heard from people with children under age 26 who, instead of falling among the uninsured, were able to stay on their parents’ health plan. We’ve heard from people on Medicare who are paying less for prescription medication, saving them from having to choose between buying medicine or groceries. We’ve heard from people who would have bumped up against their insurance company’s lifetime limit for coverage but now, thanks to the new health care law, are able to focus on their illness instead of worrying about medical bills.
And, later this year, even more people will benefit from the health care law. That’s when millions of women will have access to birth control and other preventive care services without paying deductibles or co-pays for the first time. Join our story blog today and tell us how you are gaining from this critical law.
Thank you for all you do to ensure women and their families get the health care they need.
Sincerely,

Judy Waxman Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your generous support allows us to keep the health care law strong and do other critical work on behalf of women and their families. Please consider making a contribution today.

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The President Said It. Now, Tell Congress to Do It … Joan Entmacher, National Women’s Law Center

01/26/2012 Nativegrl77

Tell Congress: Make Millionaires and Corporations Pay Their Fair Share

In his State of the Union address, President Obama emphasized a vital point: that unfair, and even counter-productive, tax breaks for corporations and the very wealthy shortchange needed investments for women and their families.

Instead of showering tax breaks on the wealthy, the oil and gas industry and on corporations that ship American jobs overseas, Congress needs to:

Protect vital programs: Women and their families depend on federal programs to protect their health, get quality child care, attend college, and meet their basic needs during difficult times and as they age. We need to protect vital programs like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, child care, Head Start, and Food Stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

Create jobs: Unemployment remains painfully high, and while job growth has started to pick up, millions of women and men are still struggling to find jobs. We must extend federal emergency unemployment benefits to help people who are hurting now and invest in programs that put women and men back to work.

Middle-class and low-income families have already sacrificed enough. Budget deals have already scheduled $2 trillion in cuts to federal programs over the next decade that are important to everyday Americans. But they don’t touch a penny of the tax breaks enjoyed by millionaire CEOs and booming industries like Big Oil. Congress should close tax loopholes and require millionaires, billionaires and large corporations to contribute to getting our economy back on track.

Tell your Members of Congress to make millionaires and corporations pay their fair share, to protect vital programs and to create jobs for the millions of struggling Americans who need them.

Thank you for your help today, and for everything you do to help women and their families.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Summary of the Two-Month Payroll Tax Cut Extension

12/28/2011 Nativegrl77

Title I – Temporary Payroll Tax Relief
Sec. 101 Extension of Payroll Tax Holiday (costs $20.1 billion)
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 provided a two percentage point employee payroll/self-employment tax holiday during 2011. This means employees pay only 4.2 percent on wages and self-employed individuals pay only 10.4 percent on self-employment income up to the threshold. The proposal would extend the payroll tax cut for 2 months with a pro rata limitation on the amount of earnings eligible for the tax cut of $18,350.

Note: The total cost for Title I is $20.1 billion over ten years.

Title II – Temporary Extension of Unemployment Compensation Provisions
Sec. 201 Continuation of Emergency Unemployment Compensation Program
This provision extends for two months the availability of benefits in all tiers of Federal Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC).
Temporary Extension of Extended Benefit Provisions
This provision continues, for 2 months the extended benefits (EB) program, with a 3-year look-back.
Federal UI Benefits Available
Program; Additional Weeks

State-Based Regular Benefits; Up to 26 Additional Weeks

EUC Under Current Policy; Up to 53 Additional Weeks

Tier 1: None; 20

Tier 2: None; 14

Tier 3: at least 6%; 13

Tier 4: at least 8.5%; 6

EB under current policy (3yr look-back); up to 20

Total: Up to 99

Sec. 202 Continuation of Unemployment Benefits Under the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act

This provision permits for a two-month continuation of benefits for railroad workers.

Note: The total cost for Title II is $8.49 billion over ten years.

Title III – Temporary Extension of Health Provisions
Sec. 301 Physician Payment Update (costs $3.6 billion)
Under current law, the Medicare payment formula would cut payments to physicians by 27.4 percent on January 1, 2012. This provision would update physician payments by zero percent for two months, ending February 29.

Sec. 302 Two Month Extension of MMA Section 508 Reclassifications (changes are between $50 million and -$50 million)
Under current law, hospital geographic reclassifications authorized under section 508 of the Medicare Modernization Act expire on September 30, 2011. The bill would extend these reclassifications for two months.

Sec. 303 Work Geographic Adjustment (costs $0.1 billion)
This provision would extend the current law work geographic price cost index (GPCI) floor of 1.0 for two months, through February 29, 2012.

Sec. 304 Extension of Exceptions Process for Medicare Therapy Caps (changes are between $50 million and -$50 million)
This provision extends the exceptions process for nonhospital therapy services for two months, until February 29, 2012. Without the exceptions process, therapy services would be capped at an annual amount of $1,880 per beneficiary in 2012.

Sec. 305 Extension of Payment for Technical Component of Certain Physician Pathology Services (changes are between $50 million and -$50 million)
Permits independent labs under a grandfathered arrangement to continue direct billing for pathology services provided to hospitals for two months, until February 29, 2012.

Sec. 306 Ambulance Add-Ons (changes are between $50 million and -$50 million)
This provision would extend payment add-ons for ambulance services for two months, until February 29, 2012.

Sec. 307 Extension of Physician Fee Schedule Mental Health Add-on Payment (changes are between $50 million and -$50 million)
Extends increased payments by 5 percent for certain Medicare mental health services, until February 29, 2012.

Sec. 308 Extension of Outpatient Hold-Harmless Provision (changes are between $50 million and -$50 million)
Provides “hold harmless” payments for rural hospitals that ensure those hospitals will receive 85 percent of Outpatient Prospective Payment Services payments they would have received had the prior payment system remained in effect.
Sec. 309 Extending Minimum Payment for Bone Mass Measurement (no cost)
Extends an increase in the payment rate for certain X-Ray machines (DEXA), which are used to measure bone mass to identify individuals who may be at risk of having osteoporosis for two months, until February 29, 2012.

Sec. 310 Qualifying Individual Program (costs $0.1 billion)
This provision is a two month extension of the Qualifying Individual (QI) Program. Under the QI program, Medicaid pays the Medicare Part B premium for beneficiaries with incomes between 120 and 135 percent of poverty.

Sec. 311 Extension of Transitional Medical Assistance (costs $0.2 billion)
This provision is a two month extension of work-related Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA). TMA allows low-income families to maintain their Medicaid coverage as they transition into employment and increase their earnings. The provision extends TMA until February 29, 2012.

Sec. 312 Extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program (no cost)
Extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program for two months, until February 29, 2012.

Note: The total cost for Title III is $4.1 billion over ten years.

Title IV – Mortgage Fees and Premiums

Sec. 401 Guarantee Fees
This section increases the guarantee fees that are charged to mortgage lenders by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac by 10 basis points. (CBO score pending. The increase in the fees will be adjusted so that they only cover the cost of the bill.) Revenue generated by the increase is deposited directly into the United States Treasury. This increase in the annual premium expires in ten years.

Sec. 402 FHA Guarantee Fees
The Federal Housing Administration is required to increase the annual premium charged to homeowners by an amount equal to the increase at the GSEs. (CBO score pending. The increase in the GSE fees will be adjusted so that they only cover the cost of the bill.) This change does not affect the upfront premium charged by FHA for insuring loans. This increase in the annual premium expires in ten years.

Note: The total savings achieved in Title IV is $35.7 billion over ten years.

Title V – Other Provisions

Sec. 501 Keystone XL Pipeline Permitting Process (no cost)
Within 60 days, the President, acting through the Secretary of State, is required to grant a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline project application unless he determines the pipeline would not serve the national interest. Any permit issued shall require the reconsideration of routing the pipeline within the State of Nebraska. Any permit granted is deemed to satisfy all the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and any modification required by the Secretary to the construction mitigation and reclamation plan shall not require supplementation of the final environmental impact statement.

Sec. 511 Senate Point of Order against Emergency Designation (no cost)
This provision fixes a technical problem that occurred when the Budget Control Act passed. Because of an oversight, that legislation changed a long-standing 60-vote point of order against emergency designations in appropriations bills that had been a longstanding procedure in the Senate. This provision simply reinstates that procedure and it has bipartisan support.

Sec. 512 PAYGO Scorecard Estimates (no cost)
This provision directs OMB not to include the budgetary effects of this bill on the scorecard for Statutory Pay-As-You purposes. The provision is needed to avoid a possible sequester associated with the five-year PAYGO requirements.

Total CBO Savings Over Ten Years: $2.968 Billion