The Puerto Rico Medicare Coalition for Fairness is composed of key leaders from the healthcare segment in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico who have committed to make a call for action regarding Medicare equality on behalf of the beneficiaries. The Coalition’s mission is to seek more financial support for the beneficiaries of Puerto Rico by calling upon the U.S. Congress and the Obama Administration to protect the rights of U.S. Citizens residing in the island. Please see our website for more information: http://www.prmedicarecoalitionforfairness.org

As you may know, the Medicare Advantage (MA) program in Puerto Rico is going through severe funding cuts related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It is estimated that Puerto Rico has lost over $1 billion in funding between 2011 and 2014. In addition, Puerto Rico is expected to lose over $5 billion from 2014 to 2019, which totals a shocking grand loss of over $6 billion dollars in Federal funding for the island’s Medicare program from 2012 to 2019.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently published its “Advance Notice of Methodological Changes for Calendar Year (CY) 2015 for Medicare Advantage (MA) Capitation Rates, Part C and Part D Payment Policies and 2015 Call Letter” (the Advance Notice) which discusses proposed rate and other changes for Medicare Advantage in 2015. The Advance Notice is issued in draft form but will be issued in final form by CMS on April 7, 2014. Based on the Advance Notice, the dramatic decrease for Puerto Rico’s Medicare Advantage funds will worsen in 2015. While the MA cuts nationally are a concern to many, the Advance Notice announcement means MA rate cuts for Puerto Rico’s beneficiaries will approximate 7%-10% in 2015, compared to 2014 rates, with more cuts mandated by the ACA through 2017.

If nothing is done to change both the 2015 Advance Notice and the already mandated ACA cuts, the unintended consequences of the implementation of the ACA for Puerto Rico will continue producing the greatest capitation cut of any jurisdiction in the United States on a population whose Median Household Income is 62% less than the United States National Average.

In response to this situation, healthcare leaders from the Coalition recently sent a letter with proposals to president Obama and will be traveling in the forthcoming days to Washington DC to further advocacy efforts on behalf of Puerto Rico’s beneficiaries.

The Advance Notice solicits public comments from ANY interested constituents, as stated in the Advance Notice, “In order to receive consideration prior to the April 7, 2014, release of the final Announcement of Calendar Year (CY) 2015 Medicare Advantage Capitation Rates and Medicare Advantage and Part D Payment Policies, comments must be received by 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on Friday, March 7, 2014.”

As part of the Coalition and on behalf of Puerto Rico’s beneficiaries, everyone including providers, pharmacies and any interested citizen can be part of our fairness advocacy efforts by sending out a message to CMS. The Coalition’s goal would be to send out at least 2,000 emails/letters to CMS on or before March 7th, which is the confirmed deadline for comment submission to CMS. Needless to say, it is of utmost importance that you send your response to CMS as soon as possible, since March 7 is just one week away.

To help you in the process we’ve included a draft response that contains facts surrounding the Medicare Advantage crisis in Puerto Rico, as well as the upcoming rate cuts. We believe this document clearly spells out the dire future for anyone associated with health care - users, providers, health plans or the government - in addition to Puerto Rico’s beneficiaries as a result of the biased treatment towards Puerto Rico of the Medicare Advantage funding calculated by CMS.

​Feel free to modify the attached document as you deem appropriate and customize it with your own thoughts. Once you’re finished, cut, paste and send it from your professional email address to AdvanceNotice2015@cms.hhs.gov, with copy to the Coalition’s email: info@prmedicarecoalitionforfairness.com, so we can keep track of how quickly we are reaching our goal of 2,000 emails. To show our unity to CMS, we would like you to use the Subject: The Puerto Rico Medicare Coalition Seeks Fairness for Our Beneficiaries in your email.

Please forward this information with your peers, friends, of your company or Association and members of the healthcare community who care about our 540,000 beneficiaries residing in the island, so they can also join us in this effort and send a letter to CMS. Remember that the deadline for submitting the letter is March 7th at 6:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, so please make sure to send it as soon as possible.

​Should you have any questions or doubts regarding this matter, feel free to contact us at:

Webpage:

info@prmedicarecoalitionforfairness.org

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/coalitionforfairnessp

LinkedIn:

http://www.linkedin.com/company/puerto-rico-medicare-coalition-for-fairness

It is imperative to let CMS understand the Puerto Rico’s healthcare community’s genuine concern regarding the consequences of these cuts. Let’s all do our part to avoid further harm to the Puerto Rico’s healthcare system.

​Together, we can reshape health care for Puerto Rico’s beneficiaries - thank you for taking the time to help in our crusade.