TESTIMONY OF CATHERINE EDWARDS, PhD - EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
MISSOURI ASSOCIATION OF AREA AGENCIES ON AGING
FEBRUARY 18, 2015
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Good afternoon Mister Chairman, members of the Committee.
My name is Catherine Edwards. I am the Executive Director of the Missouri Association of Area Agencies on Aging. Collectively, we represent the 10 Area Agencies on Aging and 232 senior centers that exist throughout Missouri. On behalf of MA4 and the seniors across Missouri we represent, thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
A quick word on who we are--- 2014 the Area Agencies on Aging provided approximately 9 million units of service to Missouri’s seniors,* about 60% in-home and 40% in the community. Critical services such as meals, case management, respite care, information and assistance, in-home care, wellness programs, Medicare education, public benefits counseling, ombudsman services, adult day care, options counseling, transportation and more.
MA4 wishes to go on record in support of HB 599. And we thank Representative McGaugh for bringing this forward.
Keeping seniors independent for as long as possible is a goal of the AAA’s and financial stability is key to this independence. When you talk about the senior population you are talking about a group that can be very vulnerable---because of their stage of life---health conditions---no longer working---living on fixed incomes---possibly widowed---- perhaps socially isolated.
The classification of observation status is an increasingly pervasive problem: More Medicare beneficiaries are entering hospitals as observation patients every year. The number rose 88 percent over the past six years, to 1.8 million nationally in 2012,according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
This is a problem for them for a number of reasons: Medicare patients who spend time in the hospital for observation and are not officially admitted find they are not eligible for nursing home coverage after discharge.
(A Medicare beneficiary must spend three consecutive midnights in the hospital — not counting the day of discharge — as an admitted patient in order to qualify for subsequent nursing-home coverage.)
Patients, who are under observation but not admitted, will also lose coverage for any medications the hospital provides for pre-existing health problems. Medicare drug plans are not required to reimburse patients for these drug costs.
Moreover, since this is deemed an outpatient setting, co-pays and other costs will enter the picture.
Often times a patient doesn’t realize this is occurring. HB 599 would address that problem. Consumer protection as represented by this bill is key to the protection of seniors and we are pleased to support it.