Washington, D.C. –On Tuesday, U.S. Representatives and Bobby Rush (D-Ill) and Phil English (R-PA)introduced bipartisan legislation, H.R. 6175, the Medigap Access Improvement Act, to expand access to Medigap supplemental insurance to include all Americans with disabilities. Currently only 24 states mandate that Medigap be offered to those in Medicare due to disability.

"Faced with already high medical expenses, the 20 percent coinsurance under Part B forces disabled beneficiaries to bear the brunt of an unfair financial burden for life-saving treatments," said English, a member of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee. "While the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania guarantees supplemental coverage for our disabled, other states do not. We must move to fix this long standing inequity in Medicare and establish a federal standard for equal access to these policies."

Under current law, Americans qualify for Medicare due to disability and rely on Part B coverage to access essential medical treatments. Under Medicare Part B, which provides coverage for doctor’s services, outpatient hospital care and diagnostic tests among other services, there is an annual deductible of $124.00 for covered care. After the deductible, beneficiaries are required to pay a 20 percent coinsurance of the services received. Often times, beneficiaries will purchase supplementary coverage, known as "Medigap," through private insurers to cover these costs. In many states, Medigap open enrollment protections provided to aged beneficiaries are not extended to those who qualify for Medicare because they are disabled. To date, only 24 states mandate that Medigap be offered to those in Medicare due to disability.

The Medigap Access Improvement Act would update the Medicare program to guarantee access to Medigap supplemental policies for disabled beneficiaries enrolled in Part B. Expanding existing Medigap enrollment protections to include beneficiaries with disabilities who are under the age of 65 will help disabled Americans obtain assistance with the high costs of life-saving therapies without placing any financial or administrative burden on the Medicare program.

In addition, this change will level the playing field by providing the same opportunity to purchase the Medigap policies offered to beneficiaries age 65 and older.

"With this bill, millions of disabled Americans will finally be able to meet their Medicare cost sharing responsibilities and maintain access to the life-saving treatments they need," the sponsors concluded.

The Medigap Access Improvement Act has been endorsed by the National Hemophilia Foundation, the Hemophilia Federation of America, the Committee of Ten Thousand, and the Guillain-Barré Syndrome/Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy (GBS/CIDP) Foundation International among others.