Medicare recipients will see little effects from Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling upholding the Affordable Care Act, the White House said this week.
Despite some erroneous reports to the contrary , seniors 65 and older who rely on Medicare have already begun saving money because of the law, according to a news release from the White House secretary. Close to 5.3 million seniors and people with disabilities are already saving an average of $600 on prescriptions, the release said. The savings came through what is known as Medicare Part D’s “doughnut hole,” which is the gap a Medicare recipient must pay until they qualify for the next level of coverage, the Canton Repository reported.
The AARP, a non-profit and non-partisan group representing more than 37 million members over the age of 50, even outlined a number of enhancements to Medicare that the law has brought about. They include annual wellness visits, mammograms and other screenings at no extra cost, additional bonus payments to the better quality care provided by Medicare Advantage plans and new rules stopping these Advantage plans from charging people more than the original Medicare.
“This is great news for seniors on Medicare,” Paul Nathanson, executive director of the non-profit advocacy group National Senior Citizens Law Center said in a conference call on the ruling.
The ruling will also have many effects on long-term care, the New York Times noted . Several Medicare initiatives aimed at supporting and keeping elderly and disabled people in their homes rather than nursing homes were preserved were preserved. Starting in 2014 the law will held husbands and wives hold onto more assets if a spouse must spend down to qualify for Medicare, the report said.
