Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mailing Letters to Beneficiaries

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will soon be mailing out letters to prescription drug plan beneficiaries regarding their plans for the coming year. Some of those who receive benefits from both Medicare and Medicaid will be sent blue letters in the next few weeks. These letters will explain their reassignment to a new drug plan because their current plan is above the average premium benchmark for their geographic area for 2009. Beneficiaries may, however, stay in their current plan as long as they are willing to pay the difference in cost between the 2008 and 2009 premium price. Other beneficiaries may receive an orange letter, indicating that their co-pay will be increasing in the coming year. The Open Enrollment Period begins November 15th, and during this time beneficiaries may choose to change their plans. For more information, please visit the Medicare website here

NC High Risk Insurance Pool Accepting Applications

North Carolina's state high risk insurance pool will begin accepting applications this week. The insurance pool has been called a major step forward for people in North Carolina who cannot afford health care. The program, called Inclusive Health, includes a pool that will primarily assist people with chronic illnesses or other serious health issues who lose their employer-based health coverage and cannot afford to pay the high premiums that individual insurance plans demand. The average premium in the pool will be $550 but will vary depending on the age of the enrollee and the level of deductible he or she chooses. Public dollars will be used to subsidize the cost of the premiums. North Carolina officials predict that four thousand people will sign up initially, and that within the next ten years ten thousand will have done so. Coverage will start in January of 2009. For more information on the Inclusive Health program, please visit their website here.

Study to be Made on Possible Link Between MS and War Service

The Institute of Medicine and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs will be collaborating in a study on whether or not service in the Armed Forces during certain periods could have caused an increased risk of Multiple Sclerosis. The study will examine the prevalence of neurological diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's Disease, brain cancer, and central nervous system abnormalities in those who were in service during the Persian Gulf War in the Southwest Asia theater of operations and the Post 9/11 Global theater of operations (Iraq, Afghanistan, etc). The incidence and prevalence of these diseases and abnormalities will be compared, and information will be collected on risk factors such as pesticides or toxic exposures that veterans were exposed to during service. The Institute of Medicine will submit interim reports to the Secretary and have a final report ready by no later than December of 2012. The Secretary of Veterans Affairs will provide as much funding as necessary for the timely completion of this study.