Legislators, health officials sound off on senior care concerns

By SARA CASTELLANOS
The Aurora Sentinel
Sunday, April 18, 2010
http://aurorasentinel.com/articles/2010/04/18/news/metro_aurora/doc4bcb8972efd7c654044807.txt

AURORA | Health care reform signed into law by President Barack Obama in March will offer a valuable component for seniors, but challenges will still be prevalent, city leaders said at a town hall meeting April 15.

The new law will gradually close the "doughnut hole" predicament that some seniors find themselves in, Dave Myers, chief executive of the Metro Community Provider Network, told about 60 seniors at the meeting. Currently, Medicare will cover a senior's spending of about $3,000 on prescription drugs in one year, but after that, coverage doesn't start back up again until the person has spent about $6,000.

Seniors who have this problem will receive $250 from the federal government this year. By 2020, the government will pay for 75 percent of drug costs for seniors between $2,700 and about $6,000.

However, some Medicare cuts will also be realized as a result of the bill's passage. The government will cut about $130 billion from Medicare Advantage plans over 10 years. Medicare Advantage plans offer more benefits than regular Medicare plans.

Over time, the nation's health care system could trend toward paying doctors for the quality of care they provide, rather than the number of patients they help or the frequency of patient visits.

"There is a great movement to transform the payment system to payment for quality," Myers said at the meeting led by local legislators including state Sen. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora. "It's going to take a long time, and a lot of legislative action, but there's certainly a great deal of support on the Medicare and Medicaid side."

One significant challenge that everyone faces in the realm of health care, Myers said, is the declining number of primary care physicians.

"Our doctors are getting older and they're retiring," Myers said. "There are not enough people going to internal medicine to fill the gaps that are going to be created when the baby boomers start retiring."

Encouraging current students to become doctors will be of the utmost importance, he said.

"We need to encourage them to become primary care physicians for this growing population and this growing need," Myers said. "It's a tremendous challenge."

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