Changes to Medicare Open Enrollment in 2011

President Lyndon Johnson created Medicare 45 years ago this summer, a program that offers health insurance coverage for seniors over 65 and for those younger than that with disabilities.

The Obama health care plan signed this year has caused some confusion among seniors and others about how the Medicare Open Enrollment period in 2011 will be affected by the new health insurance law.  Whether you’re looking for Medigap quotes or Medicare Supplemental Insurance quotes, anyone going through the Medicare Open Enrollment period in 2011 will be affected by the bill that was signed in March.

From the idea that the government will implement death panels, to the untruths that the government will actually take away Medicare benefits, there are many misconceptions about the new rules associated with Medicare Open Enrollment in 2011.  To help clarify confusion, here are a few basic facts.

The health reform bill proposed by President Obama and passed by the Congress in March is called the Affordable Care Act. You will often hear bureaucrats referring to ACA. They mean the new health care law.Among the most immediate changes:

  • The now-famous “doughnut hole,” where seniors enrolled in Medicare may pay list price for their Medication will be closed up entirely by 2020.  This year, those in the hole will receive a $250 rebate. Starting in 2011, a 50 percent discount will be available for brand-name drugs.
  • The open-enrollment period, during which a Medicare recipient may choose a prescription drug program, will be extended.
  • Starting in 2011, co-payments or deductibles will be removed for annual checkups and mammograms, colonoscopies and some other preventive tests. There will be no charge for these tests.Other provisions are designed to improve delivery of medical care, prevent frequent readmissions to hospitals and, in the process, cut health care costs.According to the Kaiser Health Foundation, nearly 18 percent of hospital admissions among Medicare beneficiaries in 2005 occurred within 30 days of being discharged from the hospital. Critics of high costs say that readmission can be prevented by better care in the hospital and improved coordination between patients and doctors after release.

    Until now, hospitals, paid separately for each hospital stay, have had no incentive to prevent readmission, experts say. Under the new law, payments to certain hospitals with high readmission rates will be reduced starting in 2013, a spokeswoman for the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services said in a phone interview.

    Among health care providers, pilot projects to streamline health care delivery and coordinate care are already underway.

    These are only a few of the changes and modifications included in the new law.