In this Issue …

1. NCOA Supports House Bill to Improve Medicare Low-Income Protections
2. Register Now for NCOA’s Advocacy Day
3. Congressional Recess Approaching—Meet with Your Members!
4. Congress Considers Appropriations Bills; President Threatens Veto
5. House Committee Passes Mental Health Parity Bill
6. NCOA Supports Senate Bill to Prevent Suicide Among Seniors

1. NCOA Supports House Bill to Improve Medicare Low-Income Protections

A new bill in the House includes several protections for low-income Medicare beneficiaries for which NCOA and the Access to Benefits Campaign have been advocating.

House Democratic leaders of the Way & Means and Energy & Commerce committees introduced H.R. 3162, the Children’s Health and Medicare Protections Act (CHAMP), on Tuesday. The bill would reauthorize the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) at a cost of $50 billion over five years (the Senate bill reauthorizes it at $35 billion over five), eliminate for two years a scheduled 10 percent Medicare physician payment cut and make significant improvements in Medicare, particularly for low-income beneficiaries under the Medicare Prescription Drug Low-Income Subsidy (LIS)  and Medicare Savings Programs (MSP). The MSPs assist low-income beneficiaries with premiums and cost sharing under Medicare Parts A and B.

NCOA and the Access to Benefits Campaign are particularly pleased that the legislation would:
   ? Increase the asset limits for LIS and MSP eligibility to $17,000 for an individual ($34,000 for couples) in 2008 and increases those limits by $1,000 ($2,000 for couples) annually starting in 2010. As a result, many low-income seniors who did the right thing by saving a modest nest egg for retirement would not be denied the help they need.
   ? Allow people eligible for the LIS to enroll in the program at any time, without incurring a premium penalty.
   ? Make the Qualified Individual (QI) program—one of the MSP programs that pays Part B premiums—permanent and increase eligibility to 150 percent of poverty. Without congressional action, QI is set to expire on Sept. 30. This would also align the LIS and MSP programs.
   ? Remove complex, unnecessary questions from the LIS application form, such as those concerning the cash surrender value of life insurance and the value of in-kind support and maintenance, which has discouraged family members from helping low-income older relatives with basic needs.
   ? Simplify the LIS and MSP application processes.
   ? Caps or reduces out-of-pocket costs for vulnerable beneficiaries.

In addition, the CHAMP bill would:
   • Eliminate cost sharing for Medicare preventive benefits.
   • Gradually provide parity in co-payments between Medicare outpatient mental health services and services for physical ailments.
   • Improve access to Medicare prescription drugs that are most appropriate for patients’ health care.
   • Strengthen consumer protections in Medicare plans.
   • Increase funding for State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs).
   • Reduce Medicare premiums and improve solvency by restoring the balance between original Medicare and private Medicare Advantage plans.
   • Extend Medicare therapy caps exceptions.
   • Allows states to continue to provide adult day services under their Medicaid state plans.

The two House committees began marking up the legislation on Thursday . The Ways & Means Committee finished their markup today and passed the bill along party lines, 24-17. The bill is expected to pass the Energy & Commerce Committee by a largely partisan vote today as well. We expect that the bill will be considered on the House floor next week.

The proposal is controversial in a number of areas, primarily regarding the offsetting savings included to pay for program improvements: tobacco tax increases, reductions in payments to private Medicare Advantage plans, and one-year payment freezes for a number of Medicare providers, including home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities. In NCOA's view, the benefits far outweigh the costs. A wide array of national organizations representing seniors, children, people with disabilities and health providers also support the bill.

If the Senate also passes its SCHIP bill next week as expected, a House-Senate conference committee will attempt to reconcile the differences and bring the bills back for votes in the fall. Although the Senate bill is unlikely to include Medicare provisions, NCOA’s strong hope is that Medicare improvements will be included in the bill emerging from the conference. President Bush, however, has threatened to veto the bills, further complicating passage.

Detailed information on H.R. 3162, including a section-by-section analysis, bill text, and organization support letters is available online. 

To get involved in the Access to Benefits Campaign to improve programs for low-income Medicare beneficiaries, contact Sara Clary, NCOA’s director for Benefits Access Policy at sara.clary@ncoa.org or (202) 479-6678.

2. Register Now for NCOA’s Advocacy Day

NCOA’s Advocacy Day (previously called “Hill Day”) will be held in Washington, DC, on Sept. 18. We urge everyone to join us!

Breakfast will be available at 8:00 am and we will meet from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. to hear briefings from experts on issues affecting seniors, including appropriations for senior programs, Medicare and long-term care. In the afternoon, participants will fan out across Capitol Hill to visit their members of Congress.

Please register online. You don’t have to be a member of NCOA to participate, and registration is free. For more information, contact Robert Tiller at robert.tiller@ncoa.org or (202) 479-6658

3. Congressional Recess Approaching—Meet with Your Members!

Both chambers of Congress will be in recess from Aug. 3 through Sept. 3. Most members will be in their home states and districts, making it an excellent time for you to speak directly with them about issues that concern you. Please feel free to use any NCOA materials –from Public Policy Update or from our Web site – in your meetings with members of Congress.

There are two opportunities to talk with your representatives:
   (1) Many members of Congress will hold “town hall meetings,” which are open to the public and where they take questions from the audience. NCOA soon will e-mail a list of the August town hall meetings that have been announced.
   (2) You can make an appointment to meet with your senators or representatives in their district office. This is most easily accomplished if you assemble a group of interested people and have a clear agenda that you describe in advance.

4. Congress Considers Appropriations Bill; President Threatens Veto

The House passed the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill by a vote of 276-140, with 16 members not voting and three vacancies. No changes were made to the amounts allocated to Older Americans Act (OAA) programs by the House Appropriations Committee. Click here to see a Chart prepared by NCOA.

President Bush has vowed to veto the bill if it reaches his desk in its current form. The vote margin in the House was close to the two-thirds needed to override a veto, but not quite there. If the president vetoes the bill, expect significant arm-twisting on both sides.

The full Senate is expected to consider its version of the bill – which differs from the House version in numerous ways, most of which are even less acceptable to the president – in September. NCOA finds the Senate bill stronger than the House bill on OAA spending.

5. House Committee Passes Mental Health Parity Bill

The House Education and Labor Committee approved H.R. 1424, the Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act, by a vote of 33-9 and sent it to the full House. The bill would require all health care plans that provide mental health coverage to make such benefits no more restrictive or costly than the plan’s medical and surgical benefits. It does not, however, mandate that group health plans provide mental health coverage.

6. NCOA Supports Senate Bill to Prevent Suicide Among Seniors

Recognizing that persons over age 65 have the highest suicide rate in the nation, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has introduced the Stop Senior Suicide Act, S. 1854, to improve geriatric mental health systems, improve Medicare coverage of mental health and fund senior suicide prevention programs. NCOA supports the bill.

The NCOA Public Policy Update is published by the National Council on Aging for its members. Copyright 2007. NCOA, 1901 L St., NW, 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20036, www.ncoa.org.