Group Seeks Elimination Of Medicare Waiting Period For People With Disabilities

A coalition of 34 consumer groups, led by the Medicare Rights Center, has begun to lobby Congress to revise a law that requires individuals with disabilities to wait two years to become eligible for Medicare after they begin to receive Social Security disability benefits, the Dallas Morning News reports. Medicare implemented the waiting period in 1972, when Congress expanded the program to cover individuals with disabilities, to limit the cost and ensure only those with severe and long-term disabilities would qualify for the program.

However, according to a report released earlier this month, the law is "sentencing people to inadequate health care, poverty and death." The center estimates that elimination of the waiting period would cost $8.7 billion annually, although savings of $4.3 billion in Medicaid would offset some of the cost.