Sunday night's landmark vote to pass the Health Care Overhaul Bill left many asking what the bill will mean to them. Vanessa Yurkevich explains the changes to Medicare and how it will affect Western New Yorkers.

The Health Care Overhaul Bill promises to bring health care to 32-million uninsured Americans, but what about people who already have a health care plan, and specifically those with Medicare?

“Medicare recipients will benefit because there will be a discount on prescription drugs for those who end up in what is call the donut hole when their prescription drugs exceed a certain amount, so there will be a rebate immediately,” said Nancy Nielsen, a senior associate dean at the University of Buffalo.

As part of the bill, Medicare will pay for annual checkups and will increase reimbursements for primary care physicians. But the plan also calls for $455 billion dollars to be cut from Medicare and other federal health programs over the next decade. That’s half the cost of the total healthcare overhaul Bill.

Nielson said, “It’s about 13 to 14 percent overpayment for those patients who are Medicare advantage, and it doesn't go to the patients, it goes to the health insurance plans.”

Medicare Advantage is a program where seniors have plans run by private insurance companies. 25 percent of Medicare recipients have Medicare advantage. Cuts to the program will possibly leave customers with higher premiums.

“What the hope is is that the premiums will go down because there will be increased scrutiny and regulation of private insurers, it’s not that the private insurers are going to go away, not at all, they will have to be sure that they spend most of the premium dollar on medical care,” said Nielsen.

Independent Health is the number one Medicare Advantage program in Western New York, which serves more than 57,000 people. According to the company it’s too early to tell how the health reform bill will affect its Medicare customers.

“I think we will be able to offer as I think we have in the past a very competitive program that allows our seniors to have what they need again it’s really too early to understand what the impact of the dollars being cut from the program are going to mean for us,” said John Rodgers, the CMO of Independent Health.

The bottom line is that no changes to Medicare will go into effect this year, and the bill could still see changes if legislators choose to make objections and ask for amendments to the bill.