During the first week of May, over 400 people from the National MS Society descended up Capitol Hill to talk to all of our US Legislators to inform them about two very import bills currently being debated in the both the House and the Senate. HR 154 and S 2102 - Ending the Medicare Disability Waiting Period Act of 2007.

Background:

Currently Medicare forces many people with disabilities to wait two years before they can receive any healthcare coverage through Medicare. These are people under the age of 65 (62 in some cases).

Nearly 39% of these people do not have health insurance at some point during this waiting period, and almost 26% do not have health insurance coverage at all. Statistics also show that 10-12% of those people die during this waiting period because their health deteriorates so much and they do not have the funds to pay for any health care. In addition, many individuals accumulate healthcare-related debt and often have to declare bankruptcy.

Now for the rest of the story.

The 24-month waiting period is only one of THREE waiting periods people have to endure.

The first waiting period is the application and approval period for SSDI/SSD. This time period can take up to 24 months.

The second waiting period is the FIVE months is takes to receive the first check once you are approved.

Now you have waited up to 29 months BEFORE you can even start to apply for Medicare.

Then begins the 24 months of waiting for something you are entitled to receive.

The original justification for the 24 month waiting period was to avoid fraud. The medicare department needed that much time to investigate, etc those applying to make sure those who were applying were truly in need. Due to increased technology, this time period no longer applies.

In addition, you are being denied coverage you are entitled to.

Eliminating the 24-month disability waiting period will provide a cost savings to Medicaid programs because Medicaid often provides coverage for people in the waiting period as long as they meet certain income and asset limits. Federal Medicaid would offset nearly 30% of the increased costs to Medicare.

In April 2007, The Institute of Medicine released The future of Disability in America. That report states that Congress should work to reduce or eliminate the 24-month waiting period in order to provide a healthier foundation for an already sick group of individuals. People waiting are entering into Medicare so unhealthy that it is over burdening the system unnecessarily.

The 24-month waiting period would be phased out over a 10 year period. So for each year, 2.5 months of waiting would be eliminated. It wouldn't happen overnight.

I urge each and every one of you to contact your Legislators to vote in favor of the bill and also to co-sponsor this bill currently being debated.

It is currently being sponsored by Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM) and Congressman Gene Green (TX).

If you need more information on how to write a letter to your Congressman and/or Senators, please let me know. There is a form to fill out online to send to them urging them to co-sponsor this very important piece of legislation.

Thank you!

The National MS Society and the ALS Organization is behind this Bill 100%. There are also other organizations as well, but I can only speak to these two as there were there with us.