In the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, older adults and people with disabilities will require additional help to ensure they have access to the Medicare benefits they rely upon. 

Many may have been forced to leave walkers or other medical equipment behind or lost prescription drugs during an evacuation. They may not be able to use the suppliers or pharmacies that keep their prescription records or are in their plan networks. Some may experience even greater disruptions, such as no longer being able to live in care facilities they called home or losing access to the provider network upon which they depended to live safely in the community.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) has put into place a number of measures to help address these issues and ensure access to services following hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The measures focus on Medicare rules, since that program is directly administered by CMS. CMS reports that it is also working with state Medicaid agencies to support state-specific emergency measures.

We put together a fact sheet for advocates with this information, specifically:

• Durable Medical Equipment Covered by Medicare
• Replacement Prescription Fills
• Waiver of Three-Day Hospital Stay Requirement for Skilled Nursing Facility Coverage
• Use of Out-of-Network Providers in Medicare Advantage
   

Where to Find More Information

Significant additional information is available on the CMS hurricane page, including the disaster declarations for each state, information on relaxation of some HIPPA requirements and modification of reporting requirements for facilities. More limited information is also available on South Carolina and Georgia.

Seeking Help from CMS Regional Offices

If advocates have clients who are having problems accessing Medicare services, we recommend contacting the CMS regional office for Region 6 Office in Dallas for Texas and the CMS regional office for   Region 4 Office in Atlanta, which covers Florida.

Read the Fact Sheet