Posted: April 26th, 2022

H.R. 1346 – Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019

Legislation Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement

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Legislation Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement

Legislation Grid
Part 1 of the Module 2 Assessment Legislation Grid and Testimony/Advocacy Statement
Health-related Bill Name H.R. 1346 – Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019
Bill Number H.R. 1346
Description The bill was introduced by Rep. Brian Haggins on 25th February 2019. The bill establishes buy-in options for qualified individuals and changes in healthcare costs (Congress, 2019). The bill allows adults aged 50-64 to apply to enroll for Medicare. The purpose of the bill is to establish a supplement under Medicare to establish cost-covering beneficiaries, repeal prohibitions, and develop market reinsurance programs to address cost issues among individuals (Congress, 2019).
Federal or State? Federal
Legislative Intent The purpose of the legislation is to the National Social Security Act’s XVIII title. It allows people between 50 and 64 to apply for Medicare. Another goal is to stabilize the Medicare and national health insurance sector (Congress, 2019). Stabilizing it will require filling the current gaps such as coverage for dental care, hearing, and vision care. Another purpose is to introduce a buy-in option for people with financial difficulties (Congress, 2019). Allowing the enrolment of people aged between 50 and 64 expands healthcare coverage.
Congress appreciates that the current healthcare package has various gaps in the healthcare provision. The legislative body appreciates that the population between 50 and 64 experience financial challenges in paying for essential health services such as vision, hearing, and dental (Congress, 2019). The introduction of the new legislation is meant to address the gaps in the Medicare policy.
Proponents/ Opponents Proponents: Supporters of the bill argue that people enrolled in the plan are eligible for a premium reduction. Individuals can enjoy cost-sharing benefits. Increased cost-sharing reductions will be eligible for silver plans (Tipirneni, 2020). It will widen access to Medicare services. The plan allows states to immediately enroll for Medicare when they are eligible.
The supporters demonstrate that the people aged between 50 and 64 experience financial difficulties and thus inability to pay for essential services such as vision, hearing, and vision (Tipirneni, 2020). The supporters show that the policy will eliminate the current exploitation of the people seeking care for dental, vision, and hearing services. Data shows that insurance companies are taking advantage of the aged to charge them high costs when they pay directly from their pocket after seeking crucial services (Tipirneni, 2020). The introduction of the policy is a measure to eliminate the inequality that exists in today’s society. The inequality will ensure people with financial difficulties have quality access to health services. Failure to access the services can lead to deterioration of the workforce thus leading to high poverty levels that will trigger crime (Tipirneni, 2020). The government has a responsibility to establish a policy that will prevent adverse outcomes that will affect the nation’s financial performance or social wellbeing.
Opponents: The opponents state that enrollees would be still exposed to the high cost of sharing when they are seeking healthcare services that are expensive (Wilcock & Eibner, 2020). The proponents argue that the buy-in and stabilization of healthcare are not sustainable due to the growing number of enrollees.
The opponents of the bill show that the bill is discriminatory or intends to create health inequality since it does not include people above 65 years who are in urgent need of health care services include oral, hearing, and vision (Wilcock & Eibner, 2020). The people above 65 are retired and thus are likely to experience more financial difficulties and thus challenges in paying for the healthcare services that are not in the general healthcare package (Wilcock & Eibner, 2020). The opponents propose that the bill should comprise additional aspects such as increasing the coverage beyond 64 years.
Target Population The target population includes vulnerable populations, and people aged 50-64.
Status of the bill (Is it in hearings or committees?)
The bill is in the subcommittee hearings. The bill was introduced on 25th February 2019, but has not received much popularity (Congress, 2019).
General Notes/Comments

The bill is important in stabilizing the health insurance sector to avoid gaps and issues that may affect delivery of quality care. Another benefit is that the bill seeks to expand the health insurance coverage. It will take care of the finically-challenges people in society (Wilcock & Eibner, 2020). The inclusion will minimize the inequalities that exist in healthcare.

Part 2: Legislation Testimony/Advocacy Statement
I support the H.R. 1346 – Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019 as a healthcare provider. The purpose of the policy is that it will seal the gaps existing in the healthcare sector (Tipirneni et al., 2020). I believe that people between 50 and 64 will welcome the bill since it will allow them to access quality and affordable care. I support the bill since it will give relatives and the elderly in society opportunities to receive quality care. The people aged 50 and 64 are locked out of enrolling for the healthcare services guaranteed in the Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019. Another reason why I support the current bill is that it helps seal gaps such as the provision of care for dental, hearing, and vision (Tipirneni et al., 2020). Patients thus experience a higher cost when undergoing treatment for various healthcare issues such as hearing, vision, and dental.
Statistics indicate that the disparities in the healthcare sector can be solved by sealing the gaps. For example, a 2017 health report shows that 75 percent of patients with hearing problems while another 43 percent of those with vision problems did not receive quality care (Willink et al., 2020). The Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019 will provide quality relief for patients who experience medical issues that are expensive to treat. Increasing access to care will prevent adverse effects that can affect productivity at work. I support the legislation since it will increase the quality of health in society. It will take of the elderly population of people who have hearing and vision problems (Willink et al., 2020). Eliminating the problems will create equality in healthcare provision unlike in the current landscape which favors others in healthcare provision. Statistics show that the differences in health care can be fixed by filling in the holes. A 2017 health report, for example, shows that 75% of people with hearing problems and 43% of people with vision problems did not get good care (Willink et al., 2020). The Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019 will help people who have health problems that are expensive to treat. By making it easier to get care, bad effects that can hurt productivity at work can be avoided. I agree with the law because it will make people healthier as a whole. It will take care of the older people who have trouble seeing and hearing (Willink et al., 2020). If the problems are solved, everyone will get the same level of health care, which is not the case now, when some people get better care than others.
The proponents of the legislation argue that the Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019 is not good enough to deliver the various solution in healthcare. One of the solutions to counter the opposition is to educate the public about the benefits of the Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019 (Willink et al., 2020). Most people who are opposing or will oppose new legislation is that they lack the necessary skills to understand the benefits. The educative programs should provide people an opportunity to ask questions and make comments about the policy (Willink et al., 2020). The approach will ensure that all their issues are clear to the team educating them. The education will trigger a change of mindset among the people.
Legislators and advocates of the legislation should use real data and scenarios to demonstrate to the opponents the benefits of the policy. The real cases should involve the people living in poor neighborhoods and the elderly (Tipirneni, 2020). The scenario should show how affected and marginalized they are by the current healthcare policy. Statistics should demonstrate the number of people who miss care annually due to the gaps in the healthcare sector (Tipirneni, 2020). The data should show the difficulties among the people aged 50 to 64 of paying for their oral, hearing, and vision services.

References
Congress. (2019). H.R. 1346 – Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1346/text?format=txt
Tipirneni, R., Solway, E., Malani, P., Luster, J., Kullgren, J. T., Kirch, M., … & Scherer, A. M. (2020). Health Insurance Affordability Concerns and Health Care Avoidance Among US Adults Approaching Retirement. JAMA Network Open, 3(2), e1920647-e1920647.
Tipirneni, R., Solway, E., Malani, P., Luster, J., Kullgren, J. T., Kirch, M., … & Scherer, A. M. (2020). Health Insurance Affordability Concerns and Health Care Avoidance Among US Adults Approaching Retirement. JAMA Network Open, 3(2), 1920647-e1920647.
Wilcock, A., & Eibner, C. (2020). Medicare for 50-to-64 Year Olds: Assessing the Effects of Allowing Older Adults to Buy into Medicare. In 9th Annual Conference of the American Society of Health Economists. AsheCon.
Willink, A., Reed, N. S., Swenor, B., Leinbach, L., DuGoff, E. H., & Davis, K. (2020). Dental, Vision, And Hearing Services: Access, Spending, And Coverage For Medicare Beneficiaries: The role Medicare Advantage plans play in providing dental, vision, and hearing services to older adults, particularly among low-and middle-income beneficiaries. Health Affairs, 39(2), 297-304.

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