How New Healthcare Reform Bill Will Affect Medicaid Recipients (via @TouchstoneH)

April 28, 2010 - PRLog -- New York, NY: As a Medicaid beneficiary, you may be wondering how the new healthcare reform bill will affect your Medicare eligibility.  Touchstone Health, a Medicare Advantage health plan in New York, highlights some of the most important health care reform bill facts:

- Starting in 2014, anyone who receives an income below 133 percent of the poverty level — which was about $29,327 in 2009 for a family of four — will be able to receive Medicaid benefits.
    - This means that around 16 million more people around the country will become eligible for the Medicaid program.
- In addition, Medicaid reimbursement to the health care industry will be increased making more doctors willing to accept Medicaid recipients.

The overall health care proposal is expected to extend healthcare benefits to 32 million uninsured Americans and cost the government approximately $938 billion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office. However, cuts in spending on government programs, such as Medicare benefits, and money from new taxes will reduce the cost to the government by $143 billion over a decade, also according to the budget office.

It is too early to know what long-term effect the new health care bill will have on Medicare Advantage beneficiaries.  However, cuts to plans in a high-cost area like New York City will be a slow and gradual process over as many as seven years

This press release is based on unbiased health care reform information from the following resources:

1. Congressional Budget Office. “Medicare Advantage Enrollment and Additional Benefits” March 18, 2010. cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11355&zzz=40566

2. Reuters. “Q+A: How does healthcare overhaul affect Medicare?” reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62J1FS20100322

3. Kaiser Health News. “The Immediate Effects Of The Health Reform Bill” kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2010/March/22/immediate-effects-health-reform.aspx

4. The New York Times. “Making Sense of the Health Care Debate” March 23, 2010.

5. Healthcare Media. “How Care Reform Provisions Look in Over 10 Years” March 23, 2010.

6. Associated Press: “A Look at the Details of the Healthcare Overhaul Bill” March 22 2010.

To read additional health care reform news and to learn more about the changes to the health care industry, please visit http://www.TouchstoneHealthNow.com.

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Touchstone Health currently has more than 14,000 Medicare beneficiaries in New York City and in Westchester, Orange, Broome, Chenango, Delaware and Onondaga counties. Touchstone Health was founded in 1998 by a group of neighborhood physicians to bring personalized health care to New York. Visit http://www.TouchstoneHealthNow.com for more information or contact a Touchstone Health representative 24/7 at 1.877.867.5750, TTY users: 1.888.777.0368.