Our Social Security disability clients are usually dismayed when they learn they must wait two years after being found to be disabled before they can qualify for Medicare health benefits. This is a terribly unfair aspect of Social Security disability, and is explained well in an online article by AP News.
The article explores the ramifications of the delay through the examples of toolmaker John McClain and baker Shalonda Frederick. Here are excerpts from the article:
After reviewing their cases, the government declared McClain and Frederick too sick to work and started issuing them monthly Social Security disability checks. Then they found out they’d have to wait two years to get health care through Medicare. Even though workers and their employers pay the payroll taxes that fund Medicare, federal law requires disabled workers to wait 24-months before they can begin receiving benefits.
McClain and Frederick are far from alone. An estimated 1.8 million disabled workers are languishing in Medicare limbo at any given time. And about one out of eight dies waiting.
As many as one-third of those waiting are uninsured.
“The government is the screwiest insurance company I ever saw,” said McClain, of Allen, Texas. “What is it that I was paying for out of my check every pay period? They have taken the charge for Medicare out of my paycheck, and now that I need it, I can’t have it.”
With President-elect Barack Obama promising to guarantee health care coverage for all, advocates for the disabled are hoping that repeal of the Medicare waiting period is finally at hand.
“The current law is really indefensible,” said Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. “There is no logic behind requiring people who are determined to be disabled to wait two years before they become eligible for Medicare.” Bingaman introduced a bill to phase out the waiting period, and as a senator Obama co-sponsored it.
It turns out there is a simple explanation for the waiting period: cost.
In 1972, Congress and President Richard Nixon agreed to expand Medicare to cover not only seniors but the disabled. They created a waiting period to minimize costs and discourage people from gaming the system.
“When it comes to people dying of cancer, you can’t help but be sympathetic,” said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. “But at a time when we have a big downturn in the economy, it may be questionable what can be done in a lot of these areas.” Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate committee that oversees Medicare, said he hasn’t made up his mind about a repeal of the waiting period.
Once a person is declared legally disabled they should be immediately eligible for Medicare. I am certain that President Obama will reform this. Most Americans do not have enough savings to pay for expensive private insurance during the 2 year wait period. Obama will pay for it by the same way he will pay for his other programs. He will raise taxes on high income persons.
The problem not addressed by this is the fact that Medicare and Medicaid are already underfunded and Democrats want to add the rest of the US population to coverage-universal health care. Canada pays for this with a sales tax of about 15%. How many Americans want to pay 15% sales tax on top of the taxes they are already paying? As the federal, state and local government take more of your earnings will you have enough to save for retirement and other financial obstacles? Is it moral to take half of someone’s earnings to help the less fortunate? America is prosperous because citizens are allowed to work and spend and invest. Why will they be productive if the government seizes their production? Why not sit at home and watch TV? Increased socialism with its redistribution of wealth and destruction of the American dollar will help baby boomers but will impoverish their grandchildren. It will cause inevitable decline in prosperity.
Not only did I pay for Medicare benefits during my work years from 1974 through 2009, but I continue to pay that tax from my private disability insurance because the premiums are employer paid and considered income. I now qualify for SSDI and it will be augmented somewhat by my private insurance. However, the amount I now will be living on does not in any way reach a level where I can afford the full COBRA amount when the current subsidy ends. What happens to me December 1st? I’m severely disabled and cannot work. I cannot afford COBRA and I have a pre-existing condition which would bar me from coverage on most private insurance policies even if I could afford the premiums. It seems to me that someone who is currently paying a Medicare tax should be eligible for Medicare while disabled and deemed not likely to recover. SSD does break down the category of disability by likelihood of recovery: highly likely, possibly likely, and not likely to recover. It seems those who are known from the outset to be not likely to recover should get a waiver and be enrolled immediately in Medicare. It is definitely going to cost much more to take care of me if I languish uninsured and untreated for 18 months or more. It is time to reconsider Medicare coverage for the disabled.