Improving Medicare Coverage Act

Improving Medicare Coverage Act

This bill temporarily expands eligibility for Medicare. It also temporarily establishes a premium and cost-sharing assistance program for low-income beneficiaries.

Specifically, the bill lowers the age of eligibility for Medicare from 65 to 60. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services must establish procedures to provide for automatic enrollment of qualifying individuals. Enrollment must be completed within 11 months of the bill's enactment.

The bill also establishes a program under Medicare to assist low-income Medicare beneficiaries with premiums, coinsurance, deductibles, and other costs. Currently, such assistance is provided through Medicare Savings Programs, which are administered by state Medicaid programs. The bill also establishes a related special enrollment period under Medicare, expands eligibility for assistance to beneficiaries with income up to 200% of the federal poverty line, and provides for joint eligibility determinations with respect to the bill's program and the low-income subsidy program under the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

The bill's provisions generally take effect six months after the bill's enactment and terminate five years later.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov