New WCLP Publication

A new issue brief from the Western Center on Law and Poverty and the National Senior Citizens Law Center provides recommendations to the state of California for increasing access to Medicare Savings Program benefits for low income older adults and people with disabilities.
 
The Medicare Savings Programs (MSP) provide essential Medicare premium and cost-sharing assistance to low-income older adults and people with disabilities.  The issue brief focuses on improving California's use of data received from the Social Security Administration (SSA) about individuals that may be eligible for the MSP. 
 
In January 2010, California, and other states, began receiving data from SSA about individuals who have applied for Medicare Part D's Low Income Subsidy (LIS).  States are required to treat this data as an application for MSP, to collect additional information as necessary and to complete a MSP eligibility determination within 45 days of the day the information is received from SSA. 
 
The California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) has issued instructions to the counties for processing the data sent by SSA.   The instructions describe several requirements that facilitate application processing, some of which are required by the (Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA).  They include:
• Treating information from SSA as already verified,
• Not requiring applicants to submit information already provided by SSA, and
• Not requiring a new, "wet" signature
Still, the process makes completion of the MSP eligibility determination more complicated than it needs to be for consumers and for the programs themselves. It results in higher than necessary administrative burdens, lost benefits to low-income older adults and people with disabilities and higher costs for the State.
 
The Western Law Center on Law and Poverty and NSCLC urge DHCS to take additional steps to simplify the procedures so that eligibility can be appropriately established while minimizing the burden on applicants and counties.  In the brief, we outline our recommendations for streamlining LIS to MSP application processes and also encourage California to consider how this data exchange may be enhanced used to improve the participation of low-income seniors in the Medi-Cal and Food Stamp Programs.
 
For more information contact NSCLC contact or WCLP contact.
WCLP Contacts:
Jessica Bartholow at jbartholow@wclp.org or 916-442-0753 ext. 15
Kim Lewis at klewis@wclp.org or 213.487.7211, ext. 2628