Skip to main content

Ending the Two Year Wait for Medicare for SSD Beneficiaries

A Bill, pending in Congress, would end the two-year waiting period for Medicare benefits for people who qualify for Social Security Disability (SSD) - individuals who have suffered a medical condition that renders them unable to work ("Permanently and Totally Disabled"). Medicare coverage is currently available to individuals who are determined to be eligible for SSD benefits, but not until 29 months after the month in which SSD eligibility is determined. For those without private insurance, who can't afford COBRA, or whose costs exceed the catastrophic limits of their private coverage, the 29 month wait creates serious financial hardship and often leads to impoverishment for those who need to spend down for Medicaid coverage. Some couples must consider divorce to protect the non-disabled spouse.

Please ask your Senators and Representative to co-sponsor the Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2009 (S. 700/H.R. 1708), which will end this two-year waiting period and give people with disabilities access to the health coverage that they are guaranteed under Medicare. The bill has significant support, including co-sponsorship by Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Chair of the powerful Senate H.E.L.P. Committee. However, it is urgent that additional Senators and Representatives sign on as cosponsors to create pressure for the provisions of this bill to be included in the health care reform package this year. If your Senators or Representative cosponsored the same bill in the last Congress (Senate cosponsors 2007-8, House cosponsors 2007-8), but have not yet cosponsored this year, be sure to thank them for their previous support while urging them to sign on again this year.

Please contact your representative in Congress to discuss this Bill.

To learn more, read Too Sick to Work, Too Soon for Medicare: The Human Cost of the Two-Year Medicare Waiting Period for Americans with Disabilities.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Clifton B. Kruse, Jr., Leading Elder Law Attorney, Dies at 74

Clifton B. Kruse , Jr., a revered elder law attorney who was admired as much for his kindness and generosity to fellow practitioners as for his grasp of the law, died December 30, 2008, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was 74. The cause was complications from Alzheimer's disease. For many in the field, Kruse set the standard for all that an elder law attorney can and should be. One of elder law's founding fathers, he combined a gentlemanly charm, warmth and caring with one of the sharpest and most ethical of legal minds. Wrote Arizona elder law attorney Robert Fleming in a tribute , "In my third of a century of elder law practice I have never met another lawyer who managed to pull together sophistication, heartfelt empathy, intellectual rigor and courtly manner in the same fashion Clifton Kruse projected. He did it, to all appearances, effortlessly. He was a friend and mentor to many in the elder law community (I count myself among those legions)." Kruse was the e...

Knee Surgery OK for Octogenarians

Knee replacement surgery can improve the quality of life even for very elderly patients, according to a study presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) . The study found that patients in their 80s can benefit both physically and socially from knee replacement surgery, also called total knee arthroplasty (TKA), once thought too risky for the very elderly. “As patients are living longer, there is an upward trend in the demand for quality of life among the elderly population,” said Edsel Arandia, M.D., lead author of the study and an orthopaedic surgeon at Philippine Orthopaedic Center and a Fellow at Singapore General Hospital. “As patients age, debilitating diseases like arthritis of the knee begin to develop. We conducted this study to determine the viability of TKA in octogenarians and to learn whether their quality of life improves after TKA.” Dr. Arandia and his team reviewed data from 128 patients older than 80 years of age wh...

IRS Announces Inflation Adjustments

The IRS announced that, for tax year 2012, personal exemptions and standard deductions will rise and tax brackets will widen due to inflation. The Service provided the following details: The value of each personal and dependent exemption, available to most taxpayers, is $3,800, up $100 from 2011. The new standard deduction is $11,900 for married couples filing a joint return, up $300, $5,950 for singles and married individuals filing separately, up $150, and $8,700 for heads of household, up $200. Nearly two out of three taxpayers take the standard deduction, rather than itemizing deductions, such as mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes.  Tax-bracket thresholds increase for each filing status. For a married couple filing a joint return, for example, the taxable-income threshold separating the 15-percent bracket from the 25-percent bracket is $70,700, up from $69,000 in 2011. For an estate of any decedent dying during calendar year 201...