Close to 60 people came to the Peter White Public Library in Marquette to get their health care questions answered
MARQUETTE -- Thursday, senior citizens at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette came to learn more about the recent Health Care Reform from AARP representatives. Many wanted to know how it would affect Medicare.
Woody Johnson, a resident of Marquette, asked AARP representatives outright: what was being cut in Medicare? He admits he was a little nervous to hear the answer.
But AARP Associate State Director, Andrew Farmer, explained there are no cuts to Medicare financially.
Here are just a few of the changes Farmer described:
-The coverage gap in Medicare Part D will be closed.
-Under the Health Reform Package, a Medicare eligible person will receive full prescription coverage through Medicare Part D by 2020.
-In 2010, if you experience a coverage gap, you will receive a rebate for $250 to help you pay for prescriptions.
-Beginning 2011, if you experience a coverage gap, you will receive a 50 percent discount on your brand-name drugs.
-Medicare will also provide free preventive care, such as screenings for cancer, free of charge.
"The biggest positive is that the Medicare Trust Fund is gaining ten to twelve years of additional solvency,” said Farmer. “Because of the cost savings and new revenues and improvements in quality that this law creates for Medicare beneficiaries."
And hearing that news put Johnson a little more at ease with the changes.
"I feel much better,” said Johnson.
Of course the changes don't come without a price tag. Additional taxes will be imposed on those making over $250,000. High-end insurance plans will also see increased taxes. And there will no longer be automatic pay increases to Medicare advantage plans or other private health providers.
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