Low-Income Seniors Helped
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has proposed a new set of rules that would allow more low-income Medicare beneficiaries to remain in their current prescription drug plans without having to pay a premium. Each year, the CMS recalculates the amount of premium that will be paid by Medicare for low-income beneficiaries in each region, meaning that individual Part D plans might be fully covered by the subsidy in one year but not the next year. Until now, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has randomly reassigned some beneficiaries to another Part D plan if their current plan's premium would be higher than the subsidy amount. However, under the new rules, proposed last month and slated to be finalized in time for the 2009 plan year, would allow some prescription plan sponsors to offer a reduced premium to some individuals who are eligible for the low-income subsidy. The proposal would apply in regions where there otherwise would be fewer than five prescription drug plan sponsors with a “zero-premium” plan option for low-income beneficiaries.