Schrader Works to Protect Seniors on Medicare

Press Release

Today Congressman Kurt Schrader reintroduced legislation, the Medicare Enrollment Protection Act of 2011, to protect Oregon seniors from coverage gaps in Medicare.

It's unacceptable for Oregon seniors to have to go without Medicare coverage because of complicated enrollment procedures," said Schrader. "This legislation will protect our seniors from being without coverage at a time when they need it most by providing them with a system of continuous enrollment."

The legislation was inspired by a Lake Oswego resident named Bill Bregar. Through no fault of his own, Mr. Bregar missed a key deadline to sign up for Medicare and as a result was not able to access health coverage. Since introducing the bill last Congress, Schrader's office has received multiple phone calls from around the country regarding this critical senior issue.

Senior and Medicare advocacy groups were quick to praise the bill's re-introduction.

"The Medicare Rights Center frequently receives calls on our hotlines from consumers who have mistakenly declined Part B and, as a result, face premium penalties and gaps in coverage. In the majority of cases, individuals who make these errors do so based on flawed information. However, even though these are innocent mistakes, there is unfortunately little recourse available to them." said Joe Baker, President of the Medicare Rights Center.

"The Medicare Enrollment Protection Act of 2011 highlights these important issues and takes some initial steps to help protect Medicare eligible individuals who erroneously declined Medicare Part B through no fault of their own access the coverage they need," continued Baker.

Confusion regarding when to enroll in Medicare Part B is common. The current system sometimes prohibits seniors that miss their initial enrollment period from enrolling in the program until the next general enrollment period. This often causes a gap in coverage for many seniors as they are waiting to transition to Part B.

The Medicare Enrollment Protection Act of 2011 will establish a special enrollment period for seniors who miss their enrollment periods due to problems with COBRA continuation coverage. The legislation also creates a continuous enrollment period that will allow seniors to sign up for Medicare Part B outside of the general enrollment period, and receive health coverage the following month.

Schrader's legislation would also direct the Government Accountability Office to study the growing number of problems in Medicare Part B enrollment.

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