The 24-month wait for Medicare is one of the most puzzling parts of disability benefits. Why should the folks who paid in to Social Security for a lifetime of work be the ones who wait? People on SSI get Medicaid immediately – and it should be like that for everyone. Let’s hope Obama’s heath care reform addresses this point. Read this story from the Dallas Morning News to see the impact of waiting:

…”Under current law, however, those with disabilities aren’t eligible for Medicare until two years after they begin receiving Social Security disability insurance checks. Johnson is one of 1.8 million disabled Americans in that two-year waiting period.

“No longer able to work, she became eligible for Social Security disability benefits in February 2008, which means she has seven months left until she goes on Medicare.

“Because she can’t afford private insurance, she prays that her condition doesn’t worsen before then.

“It’s not my fault that I’m disabled,” Johnson said. “I paid my Social Security and Medicare taxes during my entire working life. Why now, when I most need the care, must I wait so long? It doesn’t seem fair.” See complete article here:

There is a link to the July 1, 2009 edition of the MEDICAID WATCH under the “what’s new” tab here: Click here to read more

Note that notable and recent state developments and proposals that expand access and eligibility appear in blue, while notable and recent state developments and proposals that cut access and eligibility are printed in red. The last page contains a regularly-updated listing of sources and resources on state health coverage, with the most recent items highlighted in yellow.

The MEDICAID WATCH not only covers state-level Medicaid eligibility and access news; it also reports on other state health assistance programs, including:

• the State Children’s Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP);
  states’ own non-federally-funded medical assistance programs;
• State Pharmacy Assistance Programs (SPAPs);
• State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAPs);
• state-subsidized or -sponsored health insurance programs for limited income persons;
• state-subsidized high risk health insurance pools (including premium discounts given by some risk pools to those with incomes under state-set levels);
• and safety-net hospitals offering free or discounted care to the indigent.

For each state, we now note, as percentages of the annual Federal Poverty Levels (FPL), the most recently-tabulated income eligibility levels for aged/disabled and parental Medicaid; medical assistance for childless, non-disabled adults (if they get Medicaid via an eligibility expansion waiver or other public Medicaid-like coverage in their state); SCHIP; ADAPs; SPAPs; state-subsidized or -sponsored health insurance; states’ Medicare Savings Program (MSP) eligibility liberalizations; and any risk pool low income premium discount programs. The 2009 FPL, for your convenience, is noted on page 13 of this edition— as is the 2008 FPL (since it was that year’s level which was used to tabulate state Medicaid parental levels in the most recent national survey used here as a source).

Details on state income and asset levels, their income disregards, a “2009 VA Health…Benefits” guide and a helpful Glossary appear in those documents below “From the Community Access National Network (CANN)” among “Other Organizations’ Materials” under the “Library” icon at www.healthlaw.org .

Please do share this with your colleagues and affiliates at the state and local level. We welcome your comments, news items and corrections; email me at tomxix@ix.netcom.com .

Thomas P. McCormack
Editor, MEDICAID WATCH
&
Public Benefits Policy Consultant
Community Access National Network (TIICANN)
www.tiicann.org
Washington, DC
(202) 479-2543

Today’s Huffington Post has a great article on the differences between Medicare and Medicaid – this is often a point of confusion for people applying for Social Security disability. People granted Social Security benefits are eligible for federal Medicare after the first 24 months of checks. Medicaid is a state program, sometimes called something different (e.g MediCal in California, Oregon Health Plan in Oregon) and is a need-based program. It comes with SSI benefits and also for other qualifiying events – many folks with HIV get it, for example. Read On here: