Some
Senators concerned about plan to address Medicare premium fefund
checks sent erroneously
[Sep
18, 2006]--Some senators have raised concerns that a plan developed
by
CMS Administrator Mark McClellan and
Social Security Administration Commissioner Jo Anne Barnhart to
address errors in the deduction of Medicare prescription drug
benefit premiums from Social Security checks "might be too harsh"
for low-income beneficiaries,
The Hill
reports.
In recent weeks, about 230,000 Medicare beneficiaries
received erroneous
reimbursements for prescription drug benefit premiums,
and an additional 400,000 to 500,000 beneficiaries
experienced other errors, some of which resulted in the lack
of payment of premiums for months.
CMS has
said that health insurers will have to collect any Medicare
prescription drug benefit premiums owed to them as a result of the
errors. CMS and SSA have developed a plan that would allow Medicare
beneficiaries affected by the errors to pay prescription drug
benefit premiums in installments (Young,
The Hill, 9/18).
At a
closed Sept. 7 hearing of the
Senate Finance Committee, McClellan said that CMS has worked
with SSA to address problems with data transfer between the two
agencies that prompted the errors. Barnhart also testified at the
hearing (Kaiser
Daily Health Policy Report, 9/8).
Since
the hearing, Sen. Max Baucus (R-Mont.), ranking member of the
committee, has proposed that CMS waive Medicare prescription drug
benefit premiums for some low-income beneficiaries.
In
addition, Sens. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and Gordon Smith (R-Ore.)
in a letter to McClellan and Barnhart said, "We are extremely
worried that ... seniors in these circumstances will face a premium
withholding amount equal to several months' premiums all in one
month."
They
added that "even a three-month withhold in a single check could
cause a severe hardship for seniors living on fixed incomes" (The
Hill, 9/18).