Tucson Citizen.com
Medicare and More -

Arizona seniors to lose Medicare premium help.

by on Dec. 27, 2011, under Health

A client called today to tell me about a letter she received from AHCCCS (Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System), which is Medicaid in Arizona.  Here’s what the letter, dated 12/22, says:

You receive help paying your Medicare Part B premium through the Qualified Individual-1 (QI-1) program. Although AHCCCS determines eligibility for this program, it is funded 100% by the Federal government.

Your QI-1 benefits will end December 31, 2011 because Congress has not authorized any additional funding for the program.

You will be responsible for paying your Medicare Part B premiums beginning January 1, 2012

What this means is that anyone with income over $1,089 for an individual (or $1,471 for a couple) must now pay their Medicare Part B premium, which is $99.90 per month in 2012. So people like my client, Shirley, will have $99.90 less in their Social Security checks starting in January.

Shirley falls into the income category called “QI-1″, which means she makes more than $1,089 but less than $1,246 each month. She has been getting help from the Medicare Savings Program which has paid her Part B premium.

I haven’t heard anything about these changes, so I am left to wonder:  Has our dysfunctional Congress decided to cut money for the QI-1 program from the budget? Was the continued funding of this program inadvertently left out of the budget?  Did someone determine that seniors living on $1,200 per month don’t need this help?

Because of her income, Shirley also gets help with her drug costs, and this will continue for 2012.  But things will change for 2013, as the AHCCCS letter goes on to say:

You will still be automatically eligible for Extra Help with your Medicare Part D Prescription Drug costs through December 31, 2012. However, to continue to receive this Extra Help in 2013, you will need to apply for Extra Help through the Social Security Administration at 1-800- 772-1213 or on line at: http://www.ssa.gov/

The AHCCCS letter also warned Shirley about one more problem that will come with the reduction of her benefits. The letter says:

IMPORTANT: While you will be responsible for your Medicare Part B premiums beginning January 2012, the premiums will not be deducted from your Social Security payments for a few months because it takes about two months for the Social Security Administration to update your records. However, the Social Security Administration will withhold the Medicare premiums for the
months beginning January 2012 from the Social Security payment you receive when the records are updated. You will need to plan for this reduction in your income for that month. If you have questions about your Medicare premium, please call the Social Security Administration at 1-800-772-1213.

According to a letter which AHCCCS sent to the Arizona congressional delegation in October, there are approximately 12,500 Arizonans who will be affected by these cuts.  I have a number of clients who will be losing this Medicare premium help, and this is going to be devastating for them. These folks need more help, not less.

Merry Christmas and happy new year from your millionaire congressmen and senators!

CLICK HERE FOR AN UPDATE ON THIS STORY.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 27th, 2011 at 1:12 pm and is filed under Health. Tags for this post: , , , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

RSS feed for this post (comments)
  • Tip O’Neill

    What is sad is that so many recipients of Social Security and Medicare vote for the people who want to “privatize” the programs.
     

  • medicareblogger

    I’ve got a contact at CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid) looking into this for me. I also called Jon Kyl’s Tucson office. I got the answering machine and left a message. Don’t know if they’re working this week or not. (They’d better be working!)  I’ll call Gifford’s office next.

  • marty46

    I am waiting for the leaders of the national Democratic Party to make any sort of real statement in support of protecting Medicare as part of any deficit reduction scheme. Don’t worry, I am not holding my breath. So far, all I’ve heard from Democrats is the notion that they want to “cut the waste inside the Medicare program”, but their actions in supporting de facto cuts to Medicare availability and services during the deficit reduction panel fiasco spoke so loudly it drowned out their spin. As for the Republicans… they really do want to turn the US into an up-front, in-your-face oligarchy. Where are the elected officials who will support working people?

  • medicareblogger

    I called Gabby Giffords’ office and at least somebody there answered the phone.  I was told Congresswoman Giffords’ staff is aware of the AHCCCS letters as they have received numerous phone calls from concerned constituents.  But the staff person I spoke to did not know if the QI-1 program would receive funding, or what the issue was.

    Of course, the issue is that budgets are being cut and seniors will just have to live with it!

  • http://drudge terese dudas

    As all wage earners will get a $40.00 per month tax cut, courtesy of B. Obama & Co, the $$$ has got to come from somewhere, and you can be sure, it won’t be from Nancy Pelosi or Barney Frank.

    • medicareblogger

      ..or John McCain, or Jon Kyl.

      • Tip O’Neill

        or Warren Buffet or any other billionaire - until we get a new Congress.

  • C DeYoung

    The QI-1 block grant has been extended as part of H.R. 3765.  The bill to temporarily extend the payroll tax cut, Medicare Doc Fix, unemployment benefits, etc, also included a provision to extend the QI-1 through the end of February.

    • medicareblogger

      You are  correct about HR 3765.  Thanks for that info.  But I called AHCCCS and talked to someone in the Client Advocate Office and was told they have heard nothing about the extension.  Therefore, the cancellation of the QI-1 program will still take effect on January 1.

  • AzNative

    I tried calling Medicare and AHCCCS and SLMB last week when I heard that people were getting a 3.6% raise on their Social Security and realized this alone would knock people off of SLMB and onto Q1.  No one at any of these agencies had any answers.
    Unfortunately, some people who were formerly eligible for SLMB and who were bumped up to Q1 will also be losing their health care benefits. – but have not been notified.
    And this is in addition to people on Medicare in this State who lost their mental health benefits as of July 1, 2010.  As of that date, people on Medicare in Arizona lost peer support, groups, transportation, etc.  In fact, they lost everything except being able to see the psychiatrist as needed. 

  • aznative

    Seems I had to log in for my comment to show, so here it is again.
    When people got the 3.6% raise on their Social Security (beginning Jan 1, 2012), I realized it would put some people over the  eligibility limit for SLMB and that many of those people would become eligible for the Q1 program.  However, I had also heard that possibly the Q1 program would not be approved by the federal government.
    I called Medicare, SLMB, AHCCCS and DES trying to get an answer as to what was happening, but no one at these agencies had any idea.
    I found out today that the Q1 program would be dropped – and that many people in this state have not been getting any notice of this from any agency.
    The way it works out for some people is that they get the 3.6% raise, which amounts to around  $145 for them.  This bumps them off of SLMB since they are now over the eligibility limit for that program, but would be eligible for Q1 – IF that program had been approved. 
    They now have to pay the Part B premium of $99 – $100 that had previously been picked up which leaves them an extra $45 per month.  However, since they  have lost the Dual Program Health Insurance and will not pay much more for their co-pays, and the extra $45 per month they have gained will in no way even begin to pay for the increased co-pays.
    And since Open Enrollment is now over, are these people now stuck in whatever insurance program there were last year?  People really should have been notified of this earlier and many people I know still have not received anything about this from any entity.
    But at least in some cases, if not many, people would have been much better off if they did not even receive the 3.6% increase since they will not be much worse off than before.

  • aznative

    Correction to previous post:
    since they will NOW be much worse off than before.

  • medicareblogger

    Sorry for the delay in having your comments appear.  They went to an approval section and I just got back to my computer. 
     
    As for the social security increase, 3.6% will mean an additional $30 to $40 per month, depending on the person’s income.  3.6% of $1,000 is $36.
     
    The increase will push some people over the limit for QMB and SLMB.  But in April of 2012, the income qualifications for QMB, SLMB, and QI-1 will be raised accordingly – at least that’s what used to happen in past years. 
     
    In the meantime, people will get notices saying they no longer qualify for QMB, SLMB, and QI-1.  Then in April, they’ll qualify again.  What a brilliant system!!

  • Roger W

    I find it so hypocritical to trash Republicans, but then not discuss just how little Dems have actually done for Americans.
     
    Obamacare is raising the cost of health insurance for EVERYONE.
     
    Can we not be honest?

    • medicareblogger

      Honestly, Roger, Obamacare has not raised the cost of health insurance.  According to a Congressional Budget Office report, health insurance premiums increased by 70% from 1999 to 2005.  From 2003 to 2010 premiums increased 50% according to a Commonwealth Fund report. These price increases took place before Obamacare.

      If companies are now jacking up their prices, it’s because they can – and because they want to maximize their profits, which are huge even in this terrible economy. But that won’t be allowed once Obamacare is fully in place.

    • Tip O’Neill

      When you compare how little the Dems have done for Americans to how much the Repubs have done to Americans, there is nothing hypocritical about it.

  • Carol Phillips

    This just goes to show you how much s#$t ends up as supposed truth!! I,m almost 70, have been paying part B for several years. The $99.90 is annual, NOT monthly.

    • medicareblogger

      Carol, you are mistaken.  The Part B premium is taken out of your Social Security check each month. You have been paying $96.40, but that will go up to $99.90 starting in January. 
       
      You should have received a mailing from Social Security this month which informed you of a 3.6% increase in your Social Security check.  The statement then shows the total amount you receive each month in 2012 minus your Medicare Part B premium.  
       
      If you have been paying for a Part D plan through your Soc. Sec check, that amount would also be shown as being deducted.
       
      Some people qualify for help with their Part B premium, and that is what the QI-1 program is a about (or it is one part of the Medicare Savings Program). People who have income less than $1,246 per month ($1,675 for a couple) might qualify for this help.  Some states, like Arizona, don’t care if people have money in savings or IRAs to qualify for this help. But most states go by the federal standard that if a person has more than $12,460 in assets ($25,260 for a couple) they don’t qualify for this help.

  • Deborah

    I can’t believe this why do they do this to us.  I’m beginning to think they want us to just die off.  Which is what might happen to some people if they lose their Q1 , SLMB, QMB status.  A few months of unaffordable co-pays will keep people from going to see their Doctors.  My husband and I somedays eat 1 meal a day now on Social Security.  If they take almost $200.00 out of our checks monthly, and we don’t qualify for dual status anymore our co-pays will be unaffordable for us.  We need to tell some news stations about this.

     

  • medicareblogger

    I posted an up date on this story as soon as the AHCCCS website provided a statement acknowledging the continued funding of the QI-1 program.  I do wonder what took them so long.  And I wonder how many of the 12,500 people who received the original cancellation letter from AHCCCS are still in the dark and worried about how they’ll make ends meet in 2012.  The correction letter won’t get to them until next week.

«
»