In Review January 2023

Justice in Aging’s Kate Lang Nominated to Social Security Advisory Board

Last month, President Biden nominated Kate Lang, Justice in Aging’s Director of Federal Income Support, to serve on the Social Security Advisory Board (SSAB). If confirmed by the Senate, Kate will serve on a bipartisan board of seven members that advises the President, Congress, and the Commissioner of Social Security on policies related to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs. This is the first time that someone from Justice in Aging has been nominated to serve on the SSAB, and the nomination is an important recognition of our organization’s deep knowledge of the Social Security Administration’s programs and their impacts on the lives of people across the country. If confirmed, Kate will serve on the board until September 2026.

Litigation Stops Harmful Medicaid Terminations

On January 31, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut granted class certification and issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in Carr v. Becerra, ordering the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop enforcing a Trump-era Interim Final Rule (IFR) that has stripped Medicaid benefits away from hundreds of thousands of older adults and people with disabilities during the ongoing public health emergency and to return to prior guidance prohibiting these actions. When we last reported on this case in December, the Court had granted a preliminary injunction on behalf of the five named plaintiffs. This latest ruling means that states must comply with prior Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services guidance, which requires them to reinstate benefits to a nationwide class of older adults and people with disabilities who were dropped from full Medicaid when they became Medicare eligible any time after March 18, 2020. It also means that these individuals will be on their Medicaid benefits while their status is redetermined during the “unwinding” period of the public health emergency that begins April 1. Justice in Aging, along with Disability Rights Connecticut, the National Health Law Program (NHeLP), and the law firm Stinson LLP, represent the plaintiffs and the class.

Advocacy Leads to New Medicare Enrollment Periods

On January 1, new rules took effect that will help people eligible for Medicare avoid gaps in coverage and costly late enrollment penalties. Justice in Aging has long pushed for these changes, which the BENES Act authorized, to streamline and expand Medicare Parts A and B enrollment periods. Among other things, the new rules abolish lags in the effective date for Medicare enrollments during the Initial Enrollment Period and General Enrollment Period and establish new Special Enrollment Periods for Medicaid enrollees becoming eligible for Medicare, individuals leaving incarceration, victims of emergencies or disasters, and others who didn’t enroll in Medicare because of extenuating circumstances.

Learn about these new rules in this NCLER Practice Tip.

National Center on Law & Elder Rights Helps Advocates Connect Older Adults with SNAP Benefits

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) can help low-income older adults who struggle to balance paying for food, rent, medicine, and other essentials make ends meet, yet barriers to accessing the program mean that an estimated 5 million older adults nationwide are missing out on benefits they qualify for. The National Center on Law & Elder Rights (NCLER) held a training in late January that attracted more than 2,400 attendees who received crucial information on how to help clients access the program and receive the maximum benefit amount, as well as tips and strategies for overcoming access barriers.

Watch the recording and read the practice tip.