Health Action Now!

AARP has announced six specific elements that must be part of health reform, including closing the Medicare Part D coverage gap and ensuring 50- to 64-year-olds have access to affordable health care choices.

The next few weeks will be an all-out blitz for health reform as leaders on Capitol Hill hammer out the details of their legislation. AARP wants to make sure they include the priorities that members need.

AARP’s health reform campaign will focus on six critical priorities:

• Guaranteeing access to affordable coverage for Americans age 50-64. In South Carolina, 15 percent of individuals in this age group lack health insurance.
• Closing the Medicare Part D coverage gap or “doughnut hole.” Thirty percent of South Carolina residents enrolled in a Medicare Part D plan end up hitting the doughnut hole, forcing them to pay 100 percent of their prescription drug cost out of their own pocket.
• Creating a Medicare transition benefit to help people safely return to their homes after a hospital stay and prevent costly hospital readmissions. Almost one out of five Individuals in South Carolina who are hospitalized make a return trip within 30 days.
• Increasing federal funding and eligibility for home and community based services through Medicaid so older Americans can remain in their homes and avoid more costly institutions as they age. Little money, approximately 18 percent of long-term care appropriations was spent on home and community based services in South Carolina.
• Creating a pathway for the approval of generic versions of biologic drugs to reduce the price of these costly treatments
• Improving the Medicare Savings Programs and the Part D Low Income Subsidy (LIS) so more Americans can afford the health care and prescription drugs they need.

For more information on go to www.healthactionnow.org.