Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 5, 1992 TAG: 9201050148
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHARLES HITE MEDICAL WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SENIORS GET GOOD NEWS ON HEALTH BILLS
Low-income elderly residents in the Roanoke Valley will get a break on doctors' bills under a program that begins this month.The program is designed to encourage more physicians to accept Medicare fees as full payment for their services. Currently, about half the doctors in the valley bill patients for charges over Medicare limit.
Many elderly patients put off a visit to the doctor because they can't afford the extra fees, said Susan Williams, executive director of the League of Older Americans.
"These are the people that end up in the hospital from a stroke because they didn't seek treatment for their high blood pressure," Williams said. "We're hoping this program will encourage the elderly to go to their physicians and get preventive care and avoid the high-cost medical crisis."
Williams estimated about 13,000 people in Roanoke, Salem, Vinton, Covington and Clifton Forge and the counties of Roanoke, Alleghany, Botetourt and Craig would be eligible for the Voluntary Medicare Assignment Program, a joint project of the league and the Roanoke Valley Academy of Medicine.
Anyone 65 or older who is enrolled in Medicare and meets income requirements can join. A person's income must be less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level, including pensions, dividends, interest, salaries and Social Security. For the Roanoke Valley, that amounts to an annual income of less than $13,240 for singles and $17,760 for couples.
Those interested in joining the program should bring proof of their total income to the League of Older Americans, which has offices in Roanoke, Covington and Eagle Rock.
Persons receiving food stamps, Supplemental Security Income, fuel assistance or legal aid services are automatically eligible for the program.
Those in the program will be issued an identification card that is good for up to two years.
A participating physician will write off any charge that is above the amount Medicare will pay. Take the case where a doctor's charge is $125 and Medicare's approved cost is $100. In that example, Medicare pays 80 percent ($80) and the patient pays a 20 percent co-payment ($20). The physician will not charge for the remaining $25.
Many physicians have been accepting Medicare fees as payment in full for several years, said E. Blackford Noland, president of the Roanoke Academy of Medicine. Other physicians have developed payment plans for Medicare patients on an individual basis, he added.
"One of the benefits of this program is that it removes from the physician the burden of determining eligibility," Noland said.
About 50 physicians have signed up for the program and more are expected to do so in coming weeks, academy officials said. Approximately 200 of the 400 members of the academy have been accepting Medicare fees as full payment.
The program does not cover drug or hospital charges, only physician fees.
For more information on the program, call the League of Older Americans at 345-0451 in Roanoke, 962-0465 in Covington or 884-2303 in Eagle Rock.