Federal Advocacy

MEDICARE RIGHTS CENTER NEEDS YOUR VOICE!

We support the efforts by the Medicare Rights Center in asking Congress to eliminate the 24 months waiting period, once an individual is found to be disabled and unable to work, in order to enroll on Medicare.

Below are excerpts from their newsletter Asclepio's dated April 12, 2007, Volume 7, Issue 15

"...The two-year Medicare wait makes even less sense in 2007. The spiraling cost of private insurance means COBRA premiums are out of reach for individuals and families trying to get by on a monthly SSDI check. As a result, those most in need of continuous coverage cannot afford to maintain the employer health insurance they had before a disabling injury or disease put them out of work.

Medicaid does not fill the gap. SSDI income —the insurance Social Security provides to working people hit with a severe disability—often puts individuals above the income thresholds for Medicaid, yet it falls short of making COBRA insurance affordable.

Medicare is the answer, but Medicare coverage must begin once eligibility for SSDI is determined. There are 1.5 million people with disabilities in the waiting period; nearly 600,000 of them will go without insurance at some point during this two-year wait. Our elected representatives need to hear about the human cost of this senseless policy. Tell us the story of your struggle to stay healthy during the two-year waiting period, and tell your representative and senators to end the two-year waiting period for Medicare for people with disabilities .

Medical Record

“Throughout the waiting period Deborah’s joint and muscle pain became more acute. Her primary care physician attributed the pain to lupus and prescribed expensive prescription pain killers. Deborah tried to decrease her costs by taking ibuprofen, but as time passed this became less effective. In her last months in the waiting period, her body ached so much that often she could not stand up straight or walk. Her sleep apnea grew worse, but she could not afford the treatment her doctor recommended. Near the end of the waiting period, Deborah noticed her vision had become blurry, but she could not afford to see an ophthalmologist. ‘I am just waiting for Medicare,’ she said” (“Too Sick to Work, Too Soon for Medicare: The Human Cost of the Two-Year Medicare Waiting Period for Americans with Disabilities ,” Medicare Rights Center, April 2007).

“Each year, tens of thousands of Americans like McCutchan find themselves disabled and unable to work. After going through the process to get Social Security disability income, most are shocked to discover that they have to wait two more years to be eligible for Medicare” (“Life in Medicare’s Waiting Period ,” USA Today, April 11, 2007). 

“The two-year Medicare waiting period affects more than those individuals who are now struggling to survive until their Medicare coverage begins. Every American is at risk of a severely disabling illness or accident. For individuals with progressive illnesses that all but guarantee that they will one day have to file for disability, this built-in gap in coverage is a virtual certainty” (Letter to U.S. Senate Finance Committee , April 11, 2007)."