Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00November 9th, 2015|Categories: Article, Uncategorized|
This week begins the open enrollment period for 2016 coverage. The health insurance marketplace lists coverage options for patients who do not have an insurance plan through an employer, Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), or a private plan. Enrollment can be done by phone, online, through a paper application and in person. Open enrollment will run through January 31, 2016.
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00October 26th, 2015|Categories: Comment Letter, Private Insurance Coverage, Promote Financial Security, State Advocacy|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|
Ms. Laura Cali, Insurance Commissioner Department of Consumer & Business Services Insurance Division PO Box 14480 Salem, Oregon 97309-0405 Re: Discrimination against end-stage renal disease patients by Regence health plan Dear Commissioner Cali: With 28,000 dialysis patient members, Dialysis Patient Citizens (DPC) is the nation’s largest patient-led organization representing individuals with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). I am writing on behalf of Oregon’s 3,821 dialysis patients, asking that you ensure that they are treated equitably by the Regence health insurance plan. Regulatory filings by this issuer indicate that its 2016 plan designs are incentivizing disenrollment of ESRD patients in favor of enrolling [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00October 9th, 2015|Categories: Article, Promote Financial Security, State Advocacy|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|
Kidney advocates are reacting to an alarming trend in the commercial insurance industry: insurers are increasingly writing language into policy documents that attempt to exclude or limit coverage of renal care. DPC is alerting regulators at both the state and federal levels to the harm these limitations could have on patients and asking them to enforce the numerous laws that prohibit health plans from discriminating against people with ESRD. Federal law guarantees that ESRD patients may keep their private insurance coverage for up to 30 months before enrolling in Medicare. The law also requires that health plans cannot differentiate between [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00October 9th, 2015|Categories: Article, Legal Defense, Promote Financial Security, State Advocacy|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|
DPC Policy Director Jackson Williams and Pittsburgh kidney patient Janice Nathan were among witnesses at a hearing held by Pennsylvania’s insurance commissioner on “surprise medical bills.” These are bills received from physicians who are outside of an insurer’s provider network even though they work inside facilities that are in-network. Janice Nathan’s primary care doctor recommended that she receive a cardiac stress test. Ms. Nathan checked her insurer’s provider directory and found an in-network facility to get the test. But when she received a cardiologist’s bill for $325—much more than the $50 co-pay she expected—she learned that the cardiologist who read [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00October 9th, 2015|Categories: Article, Care Coordination|
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the participants for the Comprehensive ESRD Care (CEC) Model, a new accountable care organization (ACO) model designed specifically for ESRD patients. ACOs are groups of physicians and other health care providers who collectively take on responsibility for the quality and cost of care for a population of patients. In the CEC Model, dialysis facilities, nephrologists and other providers have formed ESRD Seamless Care Organizations (ESCOs) to coordinate care for ESRD beneficiaries. ESCOs will be financially accountable for quality outcomes and Medicare Part A and B spending, including all spending for dialysis [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00October 7th, 2015|Categories: Care Coordination, Other Links|
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:31+00:00September 30th, 2015|Categories: Article, Medicaid, State Advocacy|
DPC has been hard at work on the state level fighting to ensure continued access to quality patient care, most recently in Alabama and North Carolina. In Alabama, patients fought to maintain Medicaid funding for outpatient dialysis, which the state was considering moving to local hospitals instead, in a potential effort to close the state budget shortfall. Patient advocates quickly took action and contacted their state legislators to encourage alternative revenue generating measures to close the budget gap as opposed to eliminating Medicaid funding. Thankfully, the state legislature responded by passing a budget with new revenue generating policies. The potential [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-06-07T15:28:47+00:00September 30th, 2015|Categories: Medicaid, Medigap Coverage|
Dear Chairman Hatch, Senator Wyden, Chairman Ryan, Congressman Levin, Chairman Upton & Congressman Pallone: The undersigned organizations share a commitment to advancing the health and economic security of older adults, people with disabilities, and their families. We are writing to urge you to advance a solution to mitigate projected increases to Medicare Part B premiums and the Part B deductible in 2016. According to the 2015 Medicare Trustees Report, Part B premiums will increase by 52%—up to $159.30 per month from $104.90—for 30% of beneficiaries. The trustees also predict that this increase will be accompanied by a hike in the [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00September 28th, 2015|Categories: Care Coordination, Comment Letter, Promote Financial Security|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|
Hon. Kevin Counihan Center for Consumer and Information and Insurance Oversight Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Hubert H. Humphrey Building 200 Independence Ave, SW Washington, D.C. 20201 Re: Essential Health Benefits - 2017 Benchmark Plans Dear Deputy Director Counihan: Dialysis Patient Citizens, America’s largest patient-led organization representing dialysis patients, is comprised of more than 28,000 dialysis and pre-dialysis patients and their families. We seek to ensure the patient point of view is considered by policy makers. We are writing to comment on the Agency’s List of Proposed 2017 Essential Health Benefits (EHB) Benchmark Plans. States have four options for [...]
Hannah Bracamonte2024-03-29T01:50:32+00:00September 16th, 2015|Categories: Article, Charitable Premium Assistance, Comment Letter, Improve Access to Care, Promote Financial Security, State Advocacy|Tags: Health Insurance Exchange|
Regence and Moda, two private insurance plans in Oregon, recently made changes to their 2016 plans that would negatively affect ESRD patients. Specifically, after three months of coverage, any out-of-pocket payments patients make for dialysis treatment will no longer count towards their out-of-pocket maximums. This appears to be an effort to pressure dialysis patients to drop their private coverage and enroll in Medicare. DPC’s letter to the Oregon Insurance Commissioner calls attention to this discriminatory move. Medicare plans do not include an out-of-pocket maximum amount, while most private insurance plans do. Statistics also show that patients with Medicare plans are [...]
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