Alzheimer's Association Supports Compromise on Medicare Legislation

Alzheimer's Association
Wednesday, 19 November 2003

The Alzheimer's Association applauds congressional leadership on achieving a compromise on Medicare prescription drug benefit legislation.

"This is a historic accomplishment that may potentially provide meaningful relief to the 4.5 million Americans dealing with Alzheimer's disease, many of whom also suffer from other health issues," said Sheldon Goldberg, president and CEO of the Chicago-based national organization.

Goldberg urged Congress to act on this legislation as soon as possible.

The Alzheimer's Association supports the concepts reportedly contained in the compromise on Medicare prescription drug benefit legislation. While we have a number of concerns and have yet to see specific language, the Alzheimer's Association remains generally supportive of the compromise as reported. This is an historic opportunity that should not be missed, and we urge Congress to act on this legislation as soon as possible.

The conference agreement includes key provisions supported by the Alzheimer's Association, including a voluntary prescription drug benefit that is available to beneficiaries in both fee-for-service and other Medicare options. Though we are concerned about the significant gap in coverage under the new benefit, people with Alzheimer's disease will benefit greatly from prescription drug coverage that provides both up-front coverage and a cap on catastrophic health care costs. We are also pleased that the compromise:

• Includes a guaranteed federal "fall-back" to ensure that a drug benefit will be available when private plan options do not exist;
• Provides a start on providing care coordination for people with Alzheimer's and other chronic health conditions;
• Offers subsidies to help protect low-income beneficiaries; and
• Allows all Medicare beneficiaries, including those on Medicaid, access to the new Medicare drug benefit.

The Alzheimer's Association's major concerns about the legislation include:

The reported "premium support" demonstration could result in higher premiums for beneficiaries who remain in Medicare fee-for-service. While we do not support the inclusion of any premium support provision, we believe that a limited demonstration may offer an opportunity to test this theory without undermining Medicare. The Alzheimer's Association will be vigilant in overseeing the implementation and evaluation of a such a demonstration to ensure that it will not: 1) place beneficiaries with Alzheimer's at risk by destabilizing traditional, fee-for-service Medicare; 2) incur substantially higher costs for beneficiaries who prefer to stay in traditional Medicare; 3) limit choice and penalize older, sicker beneficiaries.

The legislation poses many additional complexities to the Medicare program. We are hopeful that through the implementation of this new program, the Department of Health and Human Services will implement strong consumer protections that will provide safeguards and fallbacks for all beneficiaries—keeping in mind that beneficiaries with cognitive impairment and memory problems could have extreme difficulty negotiating a complex, new system with multiple requirements for enrollment and other paperwork.

For more information, or to contact Alzheimer's Association, see their website at: www.alz.org