Administration Softens Medicare Appeals Plan
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Under harsh criticism from members of Congress and advocates of the elderly, the Reagan Administration today backed away from its plan to substitute telephone hearings for face-to-face hearings in most disputes involving Medicare benefits. Under harsh criticism from members of Congress and advocates of the elderly, the Reagan Administration today backed away from its plan to substitute telephone hearings for face-to-face hearings in most disputes involving Medicare benefits. At a Congressional hearing Dr. William L. Roper, chief of the Medicare agency, said he had reconsidered and decided that telephone hearings would be ‘’strictly optional and voluntary.” But he said the Government would ”encourage the use of telephone hearings.” Congressmen and lawyers for the elderly expressed concern that the change was intended to placate Congress, but that recipients might still be pressed by the agency to accept telephone hearings. The critics of the plan argued that telephone hearings appear to violate Federal law, would cause hardships for people with impaired hearing and could threaten the integrity of the Medicare appeal process. New Corps of Judges Planned More : query.nytimes.com |