Following the reopening of the federal government on January 23, 2018, the Center for Medicare Advocacy and the Medicare Rights Center issued a joint statement highlighting how Congress has so far failed to address several issues critical to people with Medicare. Specifically, our organizations urged lawmakers to act on the harmful Medicare outpatient therapy caps, which are currently in place with no exceptions process to allow coverage of services beyond the caps; and to extend funding for community-based organizations that provide outreach and enrollment to low-income Medicare beneficiaries.
The Center also urges Congress to act on bipartisan legislation that would improve Medicare beneficiaries’ access to Speech Generating Devices (SGDs). The Steve Gleason Enduring Voices Act is critically important to people with ALS and other conditions that have taken away their ability to speak. The Gleason Act would permanently would fix the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) policy that limited access to SGDs for people with degenerative diseases.