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Since its inception in 1999, the MJC has had major accomplishments through Federal Public Plocy Initiatives, Legal Action and Public Education.
The 2000 efforts, with strong support of Sen. Rod Grams (R-MN) and Rep. Bill Luther (D-MN), resulted in a $4.2 billion federal appropriation to deal with unjust Medicare funding. The appropriation raised the minimum payments to Medicare +Choice plans to $525 in urban counties and $475 in rural counties from a $401 minimum. This led in 2001 and 2002 as the most significant improvements in Medicare+Choice for low-reimbursed urban and rural areas ever implemented. It resulted in significant plan benefit improvements, premium reductions and plan stabilization for Medicare +Choice health plans (offered in Minnesota by HealthPartners and UCare Minnesota). Because of this success, Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin, the largest rural health care system in the country, began offering +Choice products in 2002. In March 2001, 40,000 Minnesota seniors enrolled in Medicare HMOs saw a significant reduction in premiums and a boost in benefits thanks to work of the MJC. This is “the first rollback in Medicare +Choice rates in more than 20 years,” said MJC’s then co-chair Barbara Kaufman at a MJC news conference held with two major Minnesota Health Plans and Congressional leadership. The reduced premium rates and benefit changes, approved by the Federal Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), are possible because “the reduction in premiums and benefit improvements announced by HealthPartners and UCare Minnesota provide needed relief to Minnesota seniors who have been victims of inequities of Medicare managed care payment rates,” said Kaufman. Other areas of the country that saw significant payment increases also have had similar experiences.
The MJC’s filed unprecedented historic lawsuit in Federal District Court in late 1999. Acting on behalf of the MJC, the Minnesota Senior Federation argued that current Medicare reimbursement formula impedes the Constitutional “right to travel” of Medicare beneficiaries. The original lawsuit was filed in collaboration with the Attorney General of Minnesota but was initially rejected by Federal 8th District Court. The MJC pursued its case through the appeals process but the United States Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal of the Federal Appeals Court ruling in 2002. District Court Judge Donald Alsop in his initial opinion reached his conclusion because he believed the Medicare case does not violate the Constitution. However he had strong words for Medicare’s inequities and recognizes the need for new Congressional legislation soon. The court’s decision “is not to be considered a judicial endorsement of a reimbursement system which even the defendants concede results in gross unequal treatment of senior citizens,” said Judge Alsop. “It is to be hoped that those with ultimate authority to remedy this wrong -- indeed those who created it -- will promptly recognize the injustice they have created and enact legislation to correct it.”
While MJC lost its case, the lawsuit attracted the public’s attention and put pressure on Congress for Medicare equity reform. The MJC continues to review, research and refine it’s legal arguments to Medicare’s unjust reimbursement system. Since inception the MJC has been the nation’s leading advocate for Medicare funding reform. It has pursued this though a concerted effort to educate the public and public officials about the inequities in Medicare funding. These have included: Multi-state educational program – Through a PowerPoint presentation called Medicare In Crisis the MJC has educated thousands of people about Medicare equity issues, the impact of the new Medicare Modernization Act in low reimbursed states, and prescription drug cost issues.
Regional and Statewide Community Forums – Have included a Medicare Equity Congressional Summit held in 2001 which attracted just about all of Minnesota’s Congressional Delegation and over 500 attendees. It was the largest summit on Medicare reform in Minnesota, firmly establishing MJC as the primary Medicare reform organization in this state.
In August of 2005 the MJC conducted a Medicare 40th Anniversary Celebration and Congressional Forum which attracted national and local experts, Congressmen, and over 500 participants. · Working with Media on Medicare Equity Issues – The MJC has worked with local and national media on Medicare cost and quality issues. An example of this is the major three part series on Medicare in the Washington Post by Gilbert Gaul in July 2005.
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Issues and Activism 
