At greater risk from COVID-19, some seniors now face added anxiety due to delays obtaining Medicare coverage.
Advocates for older people say the main problem involves certain applications for Medicare's “Part B” coverage for outpatient care. It stems from the closure of local Social Security offices in the coronavirus pandemic.
Part B is particularly important these days because it covers lab tests, like ones for the coronavirus.
Social Security handles eligibility determinations for Medicare, and while many issues can still be resolved online, some require personal attention. That can now entail hold times of 90 minutes or more to reach Social Security on its national 800 number, according to the agency’s website.
Even in normal times, signing up for Part B could be tricky for people who worked past age 65 and kept their workplace coverage. People need to apply separately for the outpatient coverage, and provide Social Security with documentation of their employer policy, to avoid hefty late-enrollment penalties.
Here's an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- The U.S. on Wednesday learned just how hard the crisis has hammered the world’s biggest economy as the Commerce Department estimated that the gross domestic product, the broadest gauge of the economy, shrank at an annual rate of 4.8% in the January-March quarter. That was the sharpest quarterly drop since the Great Recession in 2008-09.
- Around the world, confirmed infections stood at more than 3.1 million — including 1 million in the U.S. — and the confirmed global death toll topped 217,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
- A coronavirus vaccine is still months or years away, but groups that peddle misinformation about immunizations are already taking aim, potentially eroding confidence in what could be humanity’s best chance to defeat the virus.
- In cities around the world, public transit systems are key to getting workers back on the job and restarting devastated economies, yet everything from trains and buses to ferries and bicycles will have to be re-imagined in the coronavirus era.
- In China, where the virus first emerged late last year, the government announced that its ceremonial parliament will be held late next month after its original meeting was postponed.
- Italy’s head of the coronavirus pandemic strategy says the country is prepared for a second wave of infections “even bigger than the first” if its gradual reopening leads to a surge in new cases.
- The United Nations’ main labor body again raised its prediction of job losses due to the coronavirus pandemic, estimating the equivalent of 305 million full-time jobs could be lost in the second quarter alone.
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For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for interactive maps tracking the pandemic.
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