Medicare Waiting Period Elimination Legislation Highlighted by Coalition
November 23, 2008
A coalition of 75 patient and consumer organizations held a Capitol Hill press conference on November 12, 2008, to press passage of legislation to eliminate the Medicare waiting period. The North American Brain Tumor Coalition is a member of the coalition seeking improvements in Medicare for the disabled.
Legislation sponsored by Representative Gene Green (D-TX) and Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) would eliminate the two-year waiting period for receipt of Medicare benefits for people with life-threatening illnesses and would phase out the waiting period for all others over a ten-year time span. As too many brain tumor patients konw, the period of “waiting” for Medicare benefits can result in foregoing needed health care or can trigger a family’s bankruptcy due (more...)
Posted in Advocacy Positions, General News
Social Security Administration Announces Compassionate Allowances Initiative
November 23, 2008
On October 27, 2008, Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue announced the national rollout of the Compassionate Allowances initiative. This program is intended to expedite the processing of disability claims for those individuals who obviously meet the Social Security Administration’s standards for disability benefits. The initiative will begin with a list of 50 impairments — 25 rare diseases and 25 cancers. Those individuals who have been diagnosed with these impairments shouid receive decisions about their disability benefits in days instead of the months or years that disability determinations sometimes take.
This initiative is of particular importance to brain tumor patients, because the list of 50 conditions includes astrocytoma (grades III and IV), ependymoblastoma, and glioblastoma multiforme. (more...)
Posted in General News
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