"With little more than a year to go before a host of new Medicare options must be made available to 37 million Americans," Health Care Financing Administration officials are "scrambling to make sure everything is ready on time," Scripps Howard News Service/Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday.
HCFA must write new regulations "for more than 300 major changes to Medicare" as well as "act on changes to Medicaid and set up a $24 billion" Kiddiecare program. All changes must be in place before next fall, including "a formula to determine whether new health plans formed by doctors and hospitals have enough cash on hand to operate," and "the establishment of a new network of toll-free telephone counselors to guide beneficiaries through a maze of coverage choices."
Nancy-Ann Min DeParle, the new head of HCFA, plans to seek even further funding than the $95 million already delegated by Congress to make changes to the program and to tell beneficiaries about them. "Just to do it by postcard would cost $11 million, so you can see how difficult it's going to be to get the word out about all these changes," said DeParle.
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