City Council
MEETING DATE: 8/24/2016
TITLE:
Title
Requests for Letters of Support
End
FROM:
Charlie McClendon, City Manager
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
This item is provided for information, discussion and direction only.
Body
BACKGROUND:
Councilmember Kaplan requested that staff send a letter of support for passage of the Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (H.R. 5772). Additionally, Code Enforcement staff requested a letter urging Governor Brown to sign the Code Enforcement Officer Standards Act (AB 2228). Prior to issuing the letters staff is seeking direction from the full Council.
DISCUSSION:
The Beneficiary Enrollment Notification and Eligibility Simplification (BENES) Act (H.R. 5772) relates to the Medicare enrollment process. Supporters of the Act report that the basic rules underpinning the Part B enrollment system were developed more than fifty years ago, when Medicare was first established. As such, the BENES Act offers long-overdue solutions to modernize and simplify Part B enrollment. Through bipartisan, low-cost reforms, the BENES Act shields people with Medicare from steep premium penalties, fills needless gaps in coverage, and expands avenues for relief among those who mistakenly delay or decline Part B.
While many individuals are automatically enrolled in Medicare because they are receiving Social Security benefits, an increasing share of newly eligible beneficiaries must actively enroll in the benefit. Knowing whether and when to enroll in Part B requires that a person understand when to sign up during time-limited windows, how their current insurance will work with Medicare, and what penalties may result if enrollment is inappropriately delayed. The consequences of missteps can be significant and often lead to a lifetime of higher Part B premiums.
In 2014, 750,000 people with Medicare were paying a Part B Late Enrollment Penalty (LEP) and the average LEP amounted to nearly...
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