More Than 120 Patient Advocacy Groups Support Legislation to Eliminate Two-Year Medicare Waiting Period

Coalition to End the Two-Year Wait for Medicare

Medicare is not only for people over age 65 – since 1972, coverage has also been available to people with disabilities. Nearly 7 million Americans under age 65 qualify for Medicare due to severe and permanent disabilities. However, their coverage doesn't begin immediately or automatically when they first become disabled. The law states that they must wait two full years from the date their Social Security Disability Insurance begins before they can receive Medicare.

This 24-month waiting period exposes millions to financial hardship, pain and suffering. The Coalition to End the Two-Year Wait for Medicare, over 120 organizations who work to ensure access to healthcare for people with disabilities, enthusiastically supports the introduction of Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2009, S.700 and H.R.1708. These bills would eliminate the unjustifiable two-year delay in coverage for people with severe disabilities who are waiting to become eligible for Medicare coverage.

“Nearly 40 percent of people with disabilities are without health insurance coverage at some point during their wait for Medicare; 24 percent have no health insurance during this entire period. Many cannot afford to pay COBRA premiums to maintain coverage from their former employer, and private coverage on the individual market is unavailable or too expensive for this high-cost population,” the Coalition wrote to Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Representative Gene Green (D-TX).

“The waiting period forces people with severe disabilities to endure two years during which treatment and care of their condition are put at risk. As a result, people may forego care they cannot afford, complicating their condition and potentially raising the cost of care once Medicare does step in,” said Kimberly Cantor, manager of Federal Government relations for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. “This means that costs to Medicare will likely be higher once the end of the waiting period is reached.”

“Our efforts to expand coverage to the uninsured must include people with disabilities and their families who struggle to pay medical bills and afford food and housing as they wait for Medicare coverage to begin,” said Diane Dorman, vice president for public policy for the National Organization of Rare Diseases. “This arbitrary and cruel delay in health coverage for the most vulnerable among us must end.”

Efforts by Congress and the new administration to address America's health care crisis provide a unique opportunity to end the two-year waiting period. As a senator, President Barack Obama was a cosponsor of the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2007 when it was introduced into the 110th Congress.

BILL STATUS

• S.700: A bill to amend title II of the Social Security Act to phase out the 24-month waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible for Medicare benefits, to eliminate the waiting period for individuals with life-threatening conditions, and for other purposes.
  
  Latest Major Action: 3/25/2009 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

• H.R.1708: To amend title II of the Social Security Act to phase out the 24-month waiting period for disabled individuals to become eligible for Medicare benefits, to eliminate the waiting period for individuals with life-threatening conditions, and for other purposes.
  
  Latest Major Action: 3/25/2009 Referred to House committee. Status: Referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Energy and Commerce, and Transportation and Infrastructure, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Cosponsors

• S.700 is cosponsored by: Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

• H.R.1708 is cosponsored by: Representatives Sanford Bishop, Jr.(D-GA), Mary Bono Mack (R-CA), Peter DeFazio (D-OR), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Michael Doyle (D-PA), Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Patrick Kennedy (D-RI), Mary Jo Kilroy (D-OH), John Lewis (D-GA), Jim McDermott (D-WA), John Olver (D-MA), Ron Paul (R-TX), Tim Ryan(D-OH), Christopher Smith (R-NJ), and Lee Terry (R-NE).

 (Link to the letter: www.medicarerights.org/pdf/End-the-2-Year-Wait-Letter-March2009.pdf )

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The Amputee Coalition of America is proud to be part of the Coalition to End the Two-Year Wait for Medicare. To learn more about our work to improve access to care, contact us at 202/742-1886 or federal@amputee-coalition.org