United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2008-05-22 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:GAO-08-812T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-812T P0b002ee18039ffbf f:d08812t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-812T machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-812T GAO-08-812T Appeals Appeals process Beneficiaries Data collection Data integrity Disadvantaged persons Elderly persons Eligibility determinations Health care programs Income statistics Income taxes Information disclosure Medicare Prescription drugs Strategic planning Subsidies Program goals or objectives Medicare Part D Testimony A82173 To help the elderly and disabled with prescription drug costs, the Congress passed the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA), which created a voluntary outpatient prescription drug benefit (Medicare Part D). A key element of the prescription drug benefit is the low-income subsidy, or "extra help," available to Medicare beneficiaries with limited income and resources to assist them in paying their premiums and other out-of-pocket costs. To assess the Social Security Administration's (SSA) implementation of the subsidy, GAO is providing information on (1) the number of applicants approved for or denied the low-income subsidy and (2) challenges of identifying individuals eligible for the subsidy and targeting outreach efforts. This statement is based on a prior GAO report on the subsidy and associated spending issued in May 2007, selected aspects of which we updated in May 2008. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-812T/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-812T.htm GAO-08-812T https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-08-812T Testimony GAO-08-812T; Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy: SSA Continues to Approve Applicants, but Millions of Individuals Have Not Yet Applied; Appeals Appeals process Beneficiaries Data collection Data integrity Disadvantaged persons Elderly persons Eligibility determinations Health care programs Income statistics Income taxes Information disclosure Medicare Prescription drugs Strategic planning Subsidies Program goals or objectives Medicare Part D Public Law 108-173