It is time to take a stand

Two important letters were sent this week to the House and Senate committees working on the healthcare bill.

The first letter requests an end to the two-year waiting period for Medicare. I feel the two-year wait is ridiculous. If you are eligible for Social Security-Disability, you should also be eligible for Medicare since you can no longer work. One of the key requests in the letter that is signed by over one hundred advocacy groups is … if the two-year wait has to remain in effect, than affordable health insurance should be made available to these people.

"As you work to reconcile the House and Senate legislation, we urge you to make sure that people with disabilities in the waiting period have access to health insurance that provides affordable medical care. Two important characteristics of people with disabilities in the waiting period should inform your efforts:

• Two-thirds of people in the waiting period live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level;
  
• Over half of people in the waiting period are over 50 years old.
  

… we urge you to bear in mind the needs of a particularly vulnerable group of your constituents -- people with disabilities in the two-year wait for Medicare -- and ensure that the coverage they will receive under the final bill allows affordable access to the medical care they need."

The other letter requests the end of the annual and lifetime caps in healthcare insurance coverage. Currently, the Senate's version of the healthcare bill still allows for these caps. NORD (The National Organization for Rare Disorders) was one of sixty-three advocacy groups supporting the request. Caps, annual or lifetime, can be reached quite easily if a family has a rare or chronic disease.

"This is a critical issue for patients with rare diseases, as it should be for all patients," said Peter L. Saltonstall, NORD's president and CEO.  "As the House and Senate negotiate health care reform, we must keep in mind the central focus, to create medical security. Capping insurance payments, either on an annual or lifetime basis, can lead to substantial limits on medical care for patients." Saltonstall said NORD often hears from patients who are worried about being unable to afford their treatment or impoverishing their families if they should lose health benefits as a result of reaching a cap.

… sent a letter this week to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) urging elimination of all annual and lifetime insurance caps.  Advocacy groups also sent a letter to President Obama. Many private insurance plans include annual or lifetime caps.  Typical lifetime caps are in the range of $1 million or $2 million -- a figure that can be reached relatively quickly by people with rare, chronic, or catastrophic diseases."

I suppose some of you are asking why I am including this information in my blog today. It is because I support both of these requests. If you are a person living with Kennedy's Disease, you should also care. I would urge you to write your senators and representatives asking for their support of these two important issues. If you need the contact information for your representatives, follow the following links below.

• Senate
  
• House