[Nfbmo] Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits

Gene Coulter escoulter at centurytel.net
Thu Apr 12 04:28:38 UTC 2012


That is the big unknown. We don’t know for instance if it is more cost 
effective for some of us to  not have the Blind Medical to drop it if they 
will let us. Likewise we don’t know if Medicare will let us Opt out of the 
Drug coverage and not impose a penalty later. One thing for sure I do know 
if you drop your Medicare Supplemental (part B) there will be a 10% per year 
penalty for every year you are off in the amount  of monthly premium  if you 
later decide to return to the supplemtal insurance (The ONLY exception to 
this penalty is  comparable employer sponsored insurance)  So, say you 
decide to keep the Blind Medical and Drop Medicare Part B and in five years 
the legislature succeeds in eliminating the Blind Medical  at current rates 
you would pay $149.90 instead of $99.60.
As For  Medicare Drug coverage the Center for Medicare and Medical services 
would have to determine which plan had the better drug coverage to see if we 
all still all need to keep both plans.
Senator Schaeffer has created more questions than ever.
Gene

From: fred olver
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 9:36 PM
To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits

Gene, what about taking the medicare payment which some of us pay and use
that for the health benefit payment because it looks like if I get hit with
the reduction I'll be paying for both?

Fred Olver

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Gene Coulter" <escoulter at centurytel.net>
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits


>
> Start with him but Sen. Mayer and Dempsey also hold power here and if you
> have every single Senator.
> Subtract $111 from the current $707.00 and you left with $596.00 and then
> you have to make co-pays and go through a deductible.
>
> From: Gary Wunder
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 6:56 PM
> To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits
>
> Our own senator--Kurt Shafer.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Gail Bryant
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 6:34 PM
> To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits
>
> Who is the most appropriate person to contact?
>
> Gail Bryant
> Columbia Braille Teaching Services L.L.C.
> 1212 London Drive
> Columbia, MO 65203-2012
> Phone: (573)817-5993
> Cell: (573)268-4962
> gbryant at socket.net
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of Gary Wunder
> Sent: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 11:14 AM
> To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'
> Subject: [Nfbmo] Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits
>
> Folks, we still have our work cut out for us. Please write. Today is the
> best day to get it done. Write or call.
>
> Gary
>
> Mo. Senate panel backs changes to blind benefits
>
> By DAVID A. LIEB
>
> Associated Press
>
> JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Blind Missouri residents could have to start
> paying premiums
>
> of more than $100 monthly to remain eligible for state health care
> coverage,
> under
>
> a budget-cutting plan put forth Tuesday night by a Senate committee.
>
> The plan embraced by the Senate Appropriations Committee could represent a
> middle
>
> ground with the House, which had sought to eliminate the blind health care
> benefits
>
> and replace them with a new, substantially slimmed down program. But the
> new
> plan
>
> does not appear to be backed by the administration of Gov. Jay Nixon, who
> has been
>
> outspoken against any cuts to blind benefits.
>
> For more than 50 years, Missouri has paid for the health care of blind
> residents
>
> who earn too much to qualify for the Medicaid health care program for
> low-income
>
> residents - a cutoff of about $755 a month, according to the Department of
> Social
>
> Services. The state also provides a separate, roughly $700 payment to the
> blind.
>
> More than 2,800 blind residents currently are covered by the special
> health
> care
>
> program.
>
> The Republican-led House voted last month to eliminate the roughly $30
> million blind
>
> health care program, arguing that the money was needed to help balance the
> budget
>
> and noting that no comparable benefit was available to people with other
> types of
>
> disabilities. The House instead voted to fund a new $6 million blind
> health
> care
>
> plan, funded largely by a tax increase on newspaper publishers.
>
> Nixon, a Democrat, called the House budget cut "dead wrong."
>
> The Senate Appropriations Committee scrapped the House plan, deciding that
> it seemed
>
> unlikely that the newspaper tax increase could pass. Instead, the Senate
> version
>
> would provide about $18 million for the blind health care benefits while
> assuming
>
> that nearly $10 million of additional funding could be generated by
> charging
> deductibles,
>
> premiums and insurance co-payments.
>
> Senate appropriations staff said the estimate was based on a $600
> deductible
> and
>
> a monthly premium of $111 - the same amounts currently paid by many state
> employees
>
> for health, vision and dental coverage.
>
> The plan was put forth by Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt
> Schaefer,
>
> R-Columbia, who said it was his understanding that some blind people
> currently receiving
>
> the state-funded health care plan could be eligible for Medicaid, which
> receives
>
> more than 60 percent of its funding from the federal government. Part of
> Schaefer's
>
> plan would require eligibility reviews for the state-funded program so
> that
> more
>
> participants could potentially be shifted to the regular Medicaid program.
>
> Brian Kinkade, the interim director of the Department of Social Services,
> said the
>
> agency already conducts annual eligibility reviews for people on the
> Medicaid and
>
> state-funded blind benefits programs.
>
> The department would prefer to continue the blind benefits program as it
> is,
> Kinkade
>
> said.
>
> "Today they have health care provided, and it sounds like tomorrow they
> would have
>
> to pay under the Senate position," Kinkade said.
>
> The Senate committee's plan still must go before the full Senate, and
> differences
>
> with the House then would have to be reconciled through a conference
> committee consisting
>
> of members from both chambers. Missouri's proposed $24 billion operating
> budget would
>
> take effect July 1.
>
> C 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
> published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
>
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