Letter to Congress: Ask Medicare to Report on Education and Enrollment Choices for Payment Installment Option
Published May 1, 2024
On May 1, the Alliance was joined by 55 additional organizations in a letter to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee (and to the U.S. Senate on May 28) regarding the implementation of the Medicare Prescription Payment Plan (MP3). The letter asks the committee to include report language in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 appropriations bill that would ask the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to annually report to Congress and the public:
- The number of beneficiaries who have taken up the smoothing option and the total number of beneficiaries categorized as “likely to benefit” by CMS;
- Information on the methods that CMS is utilizing to encourage participation, such as the use of Medicare.gov, the Medicare and You handbook, 1-800-MEDICARE, and provider-focused communications such as the Medicare Learning Network or Open Door Forums; and
- Additional outreach efforts that CMS is conducting with other stakeholders, including but not limited to provider associations and societies, patient and consumer advocacy groups, and pharmacy benefit managers.
Additionally, the proposed report language would direct CMS to provide updates on the status of operationalizing point-of-sale enrollment for the MP3 until such functionality is broadly available for Medicare beneficiaries.
The letter reflects the report language requested for inclusion in the FY 2025 appropriations bill by Representatives Yadira Caraveo, Jen Kiggans, and Thomas Kean – along with 26 additional Representatives – on April 30, 2024 and by Senators Cory Booker and Jacky Rosen on May 14.