Eight past Administrators of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services/Health Care Financing Administration—the agency that oversees and runs Medicare—wrote Congressional leaders this week expressing support for the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (H.R. 5772 and S. 3236). Developed by the Medicare Rights Center, the BENES Act modernizes and simplifies the Part B enrollment process.

A report released this week by the Georgetown University Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) reviews strategies to stabilize the Affordable Care Act health insurance Marketplaces, drawing on lessons learned from Medicare. Through the Marketplaces, millions of Americans—who would otherwise lack coverage altogether—now have health insurance made available through private plans subsidized by the federal government. While some insurers are succeeding in the Marketplace and expanding their reach, others are experiencing losses, leading to withdrawals from the market and premiums hikes. This instability is causing some to question the long-term sustainability of the Marketplaces.

This week, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) released a report comparing Medicare beneficiaries who are under age 65 and eligible for benefits as a result of receiving Social Security Disability Benefits to those beneficiaries who are eligible for Medicare due to age. The report finds that Medicare beneficiaries under age 65 differ from those ages 65 or older in several ways, including demographically, socioeconomically, and in health status. KFF also reports that those under age 65 have different types and rates of supplemental insurance than older beneficiaries.

According to a new issue brief by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF), the growth in total Medicare spending between 2010 and 2015 (4.4 percent) was notably lower than spending between 2000 and 2010 (9 percent). Even more remarkable, spending in the Medicare program has slowed even as enrollment in Medicare since 2011 has increased with baby boomers becoming eligible. Additionally, the average growth in spending per beneficiary each year was only 1.4 percent between 2010 and 2015, which is considerably lower than average spending growth of 7.4 percent between 2000 and 2010.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced that the average basic premium for a Part D prescription drug plan is estimated to be $34 per month in 2017. This projected average premium is a slight increase over the average monthly premium in 2016 ($32.56) and represents the continued relative stability of Part D premiums.

Are you, your loved one, or someone you know enrolled in a Managed Long Term Care (MLTC) Plan? If you live in New York State, receive more than 120 days of long term care per year, and have Medicare and Medicaid you most likely are a member of an MLTC plan. If you are not enrolled in an MLTC plan and need long term care services, please read our blog about enrolling in long-term care plans. Before you can enroll in an MLTC plan, you need to be assessed by a nurse.

This week, Joe Baker, president of the Medicare Rights Center, joined the honorable Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), for a roundtable discussion on how bundled payments can further ongoing efforts to transition Medicare from a volume-based payment system to one that reimburses for care coordination, quality, and innovation. Bundled payments are a reimbursement mechanism for the treatment of patients with specific conditions.

Among many measures in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) of 2016, signed into law last week by President Obama, was a Part D “lock-in” program intended to prevent people with Medicare from misusing certain prescription drugs. The Medicare Rights Center played a pivotal role in shaping the program’s consumer safeguards along with its national partners.