Perspective               

2003 Budget Delays Spur Medicare Education Cuts

State Health Insurance Assistance Programs (SHIPs), which offer information, counseling, and assistance to people with Medicare, will be hit with a 2.9 percent across-the-board cut in the appropriations bill that the Senate passed January 23. The bill will move to conference for consideration by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Consumer advocates are worried about the impact of such cuts on the already underfunded SHIPs. They have also expressed concern that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spent $25 million to advertise Medicare's hotline (1-800-MEDICARE), even though 1-800-MEDICARE refers thousands of callers with complex problems to hotlines that the SHIPs run. People are usually referred to SHIPs if they need help getting critical care from their Medicare HMOs, accessing home health care services, affording prescription drugs, or finding an insurance company that will sell them a Medicare supplemental policy. The money HHS currently pays the SHIPs does not begin to cover the costs of helping all callers.

Uncertainty about spending levels for 2003 within the HHS also prompted immediate cuts to Medicare contractor outreach programs that provide older and disabled adults with information and advice on their health care benefits, rights, and options. In addition to processing Medicare claims, contractors have traditionally performed consumer education and outreach through site visits and mailings.

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