Program Protecting Vulnerable Elderly at RiskCongressional Record Link During debate on
H.R. 3971, Social Services Emergency Relief and Recovery Act of 2005, Congressman Kucinich said:
"Mr. Speaker, the Qualified Individual, or QI, program pays the
monthly Medicare part B premium for low-income beneficiaries. On
September 30, 2005, the authorization for QI-1 expired. If it is not
reauthorized within days, over 160,000 low-income seniors and those
with disabilities will lose this crucial assistance on which they rely
to cover their health care costs. That means that some people who make
less than $1,092 a month will lose almost 10 percent of their income.
"This is simply unnecessary, since QI's extension has strong and
broad support. It is supported by 35 separate health advocacy
organizations. In addition, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette)
and I have a bill to extend the benefit that has bipartisan
cosponsorship. In fact, a similar extension passed the House last year
by a voice vote.
"This bill before us today will make sure our seniors do not lose
their income by extending the benefit for 1 year. In doing so, it
builds on a consistent history of temporary extensions in recent years.
If this bill becomes law, I urge Congress to turn its attention to a
more permanent solution. Every year the benefit has strong support, and
more often than not we find ourselves rushing at the last minute to
keep it alive. My hope is that before it expires again next year,
Congress will pass a permanent reauthorization."
[Ed. note: H.R. 3971 passed the House by voice vote. On October 7 it passed the Senate by unanimous consent and was sent to the White House.]
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October 16, 2005 (From the New York Times)
WASHINGTON, Oct. 15 - About 192,000 Medicare beneficiaries with low
incomes face a steep increase in costs because Congress has not renewed
a program that paid their monthly premiums, the Bush administration
said on Saturday.
"These are highly vulnerable beneficiaries," the administration said
in an e-mail notice sent to Congress on Friday night. The notice said
that legal authority for the program expired at the end of the fiscal
year on Sept. 30. So the low-income beneficiaries, who are 65 and older
or disabled, will have to pay the premiums that until now were paid for
them by the federal government.
The basic Medicare premium, $78.20 a month, will rise to $88.50 in
January. Premiums are normally deducted from Social Security checks.
"The administration has no authority to reinstate the program," the
notice said. "Congress must act. The president's 2006 budget proposed a
one-year extension of the program. Without a reinstatement of the
program, these 192,000 beneficiaries will be individually responsible
for the payment of their Medicare Part B premiums."
Under the program, the federal government can pay premiums for
Medicare beneficiaries with incomes of $1,097 to $1,464 a month. That
amounts to $13,164 to $17,568 annually. Beneficiaries are known as
"qualifying individuals," and the program is often called the Q.I.
program.
The administration said, "States are responsible for notifying beneficiaries that the Q.I. benefit has been terminated."
The House and the Senate have passed separate bills to reinstate the
program. The cost, roughly $200 million a year, would be offset by
denying federal payments under Medicaid and Medicare for Viagra and
other drugs for erectile dysfunction.
Congress left Oct. 7 for a 10-day recess without resolving
differences on this and other issues. The two houses disagree over
parts of the legislation dealing with welfare benefits, unemployment
insurance and programs to promote sexual abstinence.
Kevin W. Concannon, director of the Iowa
Department of Human Services, said: "Congress just walked away and left
a lot of poor people hanging. It's frustrating and disheartening. We
hope Congress will extend the program, but there is no guarantee."
The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services told Congress
that it had "received requests for information on how to begin
terminating beneficiaries from the program from states such as Florida, Nevada and New York."
Howard J. Bedlin, vice president of the National Council on the
Aging, a research and advocacy group, said: "It's hard to believe that
Congress would cut off vulnerable seniors from the help they need at
such a critical time. Medicare premiums have increased more than 50
percent in three years. Do we really want to have thousands of seniors
no longer able to afford to see their doctors?"
Gary R. Karr, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said, "We want Congress to renew the program."
If Congress does nothing, the agency told Congress, beneficiaries
will have to pay Medicare premiums for October and subsequent months.
Several months' premiums could be deducted at once from a person's
Social Security check.
The agency said that if the Social Security Administration receives
a list of names in November, "the beneficiary will see his or her
December check reduced by $234.60" - the amount for October, November
and December at $78.20 a month.
Congress is scheduled to reconvene on Monday. Proposals to reduce
the federal budget deficit are high on the agenda. Republican leaders
say they will work with the White House to cut $35 billion from
projected spending on Medicaid and other benefit programs over five
years.
But Senator Charles E. Grassley,
the Iowa Republican who is chairman of the Finance Committee, said he
would try to preserve aid for low-income Medicare beneficiaries because
the program had "proved its value in helping those who live on the edge
of poverty."
"Congress needs to act quickly to make sure this important benefit is not lost," Mr. Grassley said.
Senator Jeff Bingaman, Democrat of New Mexico,
has introduced a bill that would permanently authorize aid for
low-income people on Medicare. "Congress should not be playing
political hot potato with this issue every year," Mr. Bingaman said.
The Bush administration said the uncertainty about aid for
low-income people could have "a significant impact on the Medicare
prescription drug benefit" that becomes available on Jan. 1. People
receiving such aid are deemed eligible for extra help with their drug
costs.
But if the program no longer exists, the administration said, it
will be "much harder to motivate these individuals" to sign up for drug
plan.
