The undersigned organizations share a commitment to advancing the health and economic security of individuals and families with Marketplace coverage and with Medicare. In 2016, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a time-limited equitable relief opportunity for select individuals currently or previously enrolled in Marketplace plans who delayed Medicare enrollment during their Initial Enrollment Period (IEP).1 CMS subsequently extended this policy,2 and expanded it to people with Marketplace coverage who did not enroll in Medicare during a qualifying Special Enrollment Period (SEP).3 For both populations, this important relief is set to expire on September 30, 2019.
We write today to urge CMS to extend the existing policy until such time as the agency can demonstrate it has sufficiently corrected the outreach and education issues that continue to cause serious enrollment errors—through September 30, 2020, at a minimum.
Any changes to the Medicare program must aim for healthier people, better care, and smarter spending—not paying more for less. As policymakers debate the future of health care, we will provide our insights here.
Thinking ahead to Medicare's future, it’s important to modernize benefits and pursue changes that improve how people with Medicare navigate their coverage on a daily basis. Here are our evolving 30 policy goals for Medicare’s future.
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