In January, I’ll blow out the candles on my 65th birthday cake. A family member recently reminded me that I

Last week, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Medicare Part B premiums for 2017. Starting January 1, most people with Medicare will see a small increase in their Part B premium, from $104.90 to an average of $109.00 per month. But about 30 percent of people covered by Medicare will see a minimum Part B premium of $134.00, a 10 percent increase from the minimum 2016 premium of $121.80.

You may be reading news reports about how some members of Congress want to privatize Medicare. By no means is this new news, but this week’s election results brought about renewed interest in these plans. In years past, proposals to privatize Medicare—commonly known as premium support—relied on vouchers that people with Medicare would receive from the federal government to purchase private health plans. Past proposals had important differences: some introduce vouchers for future beneficiaries, some preserve Traditional Medicare as an option, some include defined benefits and consumer protections, etc.

This week, the Medicare Rights Center submitted a letter of strong support for the Medicare Affordability and Enrollment Act of 2016. Introduced this fall, this bill would cap beneficiaries’ out-of-pocket expenses in Traditional Medicare; eliminate coverage gaps associated with Part B enrollment mistakes; reduce cost-sharing for low-income beneficiaries; increase eligibility for income-dependent programs; and modernize the Medicare enrollment system to facilitate easier enrollment, begin coverage earlier and reduce arbitrary late-enrollment penalties that today are paid for a lifetime.

Earlier this fall, the Medigap Consumer Protection Act of 2016 was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. This bill would expand access to Medicare supplemental insurance plans, commonly called “Medigap” plans.

Medigap plans are already popular, and many people on Medicare find they are an invaluable part of their health care coverage. As the name suggests, Medigap plans cover gaps in the Medicare program that mostly revolve around out-of-pocket expenses. But while people 65 and older are guaranteed access to Medicap, albeit with significant limitations, people who are under 65 and enrolled in Medicare are not guaranteed access. Some states require Medigap access, but there is no federal right to purchase a Medigap plan for this population.

Last week, the Center on Aging at the American Institute for Research (AIR) released a set of issue briefs detailing the complexities of enrolling in Medicare. One of the briefs, Medicare Complexity Taxes Counseling Resources Available to Beneficiaries, highlights Medicare choices and the personalized counseling available to beneficiaries and their families.

A new set of issue briefs by the Center on Aging at the American Institutes for Research (AIR) highlights the growing complexities facing thousands of people each day as they become eligible for Medicare. One of the briefs, Medicare Enrollment Maze Puts Older Americans at Risk for Financial Penalties and Coverage Gaps, examines a relatively recent trend where the age of Medicare eligibility and the age of retirement have moved further apart.

This week, Medicare Rights joined health care leaders from across the country for the annual summit of the Health Care Payment Learning & Action Network (LAN). As a committed partner of the LAN, Medicare Rights is one of over 130 national and state organizations working to change how health care is paid for—moving away from paying on the basis of volume (meaning paying a fee for each discrete service) to paying for value (meaning paying for better quality care at a lower cost). Medicare Rights was proud to be an invited member of the LAN’s Primary Care Payment Model (PCPM) Work Group. As part of the Work Group, we added the consumer and patient perspective to a draft white paper on optimal ways to pay for and deliver primary care services.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently suspended a policy known as seamless conversion, a practice that allows select insurers to auto-enroll newly eligible Medicare beneficiaries in an issuer’s commercial or Medicaid managed care product into one of the same company’s Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. In light of recent inquiries, including from the Medicare Rights Center, CMS decided to temporarily halt the acceptance of all new seamless conversion proposals from plans.