Wexler Asks Governor Crist to Help Correct Unfair Disparities in Medicare Benefits in Palm Beach and Broward Counties

(Washington, DC) Today Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL) sent a letter to Florida Governor Charlie Crist requesting assistance in convincing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to designate Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade counties as a single unit for purposes of Medicare payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans. Representatives Alcee L. Hastings, Ron Klein, and Tim Mahoney joined Wexler on the letter.

Currently, Medicare Advantage plans in Broward County and Palm Beach County receive approximately $175 and $233 less per patient, respectively, than Miami-Dade County.  It is common for Medicare benefits to differ between rural and urban areas, where population, wages, and the cost of health care differ.  However, in 2000 the US Office of Budget and Management designated Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade Counties one statistical metropolitan area (SMA).  Despite this SMA designation, the disparity in Medicare payments remains, resulting in widely divergent benefits for patients from county to county.

“At a time when senior citizens are being financially squeezed from skyrocketing health care costs, property taxes, and energy prices, it is absolutely crucial that Medicare beneficiaries receive adequate and equal benefits” said Congressman Wexler.  “Currently, an elderly resident on a Medicare Advantage Plan in Miami-Dade County may have his or her Part B premiums paid for by their Medicare Advantage Plan, while an elderly resident similarly situated in Palm Beach County may not receive this benefit.  This disparity is unfair and unwarranted, because the US government classifies these areas as statistically identical.”

While Medicare is a federal program, Medicare law allows governors to petition CMS to change the MA payment from a county-by-county basis to a statewide, metropolitan, or consolidated noncontiguous basis.  The letter requesting that Governor Crist begin the process of reclassifying Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade Counties from a county-by-county basis to a metropolitan area basis is endorsed by the Delray Alliance, a local organization dedicated to providing affordable health care to seniors.  The letter is available here.

Congressman Wexler is Chairman of the Europe Subcommittee and a senior member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the House Judiciary Committee; and he also sits on the Financial Services Committee.

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