Medicare touches the lives of just about every American senior. The nation’s retirement health insurance program currently has 68.5 million enrollees.
So, when Medicare changes are proposed, millions of retirees take notice. Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee on Ways and Means released a draft of The One, Big, Beautiful Bill, and it has several provisions that affect Medicare.
Here’s how Medicare will change if the bill becomes law as it’s currently written.
Applicable section of the bill: “Individuals entitled to Part A of Medicare by reason of age allowed to contribute to health savings accounts”
How it would work: As things stand now, becoming eligible to enroll in Medicare — which for most people happens at age 65 — prevents you from making any additional contributions to your health savings account (HSA). While you can still tap into existing funds in the HSA, new contributions are forbidden.
The bill would change that somewhat, allowing working seniors who are eligible for Medicare Part A (the component of Medicare that covers inpatient care) to continue to contribute to an HSA as long as they are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan.
The change would impact a relatively small slice of the senior population — mostly those who continue to work past 65 and who get their health insurance outside of Medicare.
Applicable section of the bill: “Implementing artificial intelligence tools for purposes of reducing and recouping improper payments under Medicare”
How it would work: In 2024, the Medicare program lost more than $50 billion to improper payments — meaning payments that don’t meet the program’s requirements, typically because the health care provider, contractor or other entity seeking payment missed an administrative step.
Under the new bill, the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services would receive $25 million to hire artificial intelligence (AI) contractors and data scientists to look for improper Medicare payments and recoup overpayments.
The secretary also would be required to report to Congress on efforts to reduce improper payments.
This change stands to save Medicare money, and such savings could help extend the program’s solvency. (Currently, one of Medicare’s trust funds is projected to be exhausted by 2036, as we detail in “Here’s What Will Happen When Social Security and Medicare Funds Run Dry.”)
So, even though Medicare enrollees wouldn’t benefit directly from this change, they could benefit indirectly.
Applicable section of the bill: “Limiting Medicare coverage of certain individuals”
How it would work: The new legislation would prevent people who are in the U.S. illegally from receiving Medicare coverage.
The following groups would still be eligible for the program:
Applicable section of the bill: “Expanding the definition of rural emergency hospital under the Medicare program”
How it would work: Currently, only certain hospitals that were enrolled in Medicare by Dec. 27, 2020, are eligible to receive Medicare’s “rural emergency hospital” designation. The new bill would push that cutoff date back, enabling more hospitals to receive the designation.
Medicare’s rural emergency hospital designation is, in short, designed to help struggling rural hospitals avoid having to close down. So, this change would stand to help Medicare enrollees in rural areas.
Source: https://www.moneytalksnews.com/slideshows/ways-congress-may-soon-change-the-medicare-program/
