# Plain Language Summary: Chronic Care Management Improvement Act of 2023

If you're on Medicare and managing a chronic illness like diabetes, heart disease, or COPD, this bill would make it cheaper for you to get help managing your condition. Right now, Medicare requires you to pay a share of the cost for chronic care management services—these are services where your doctor or a nurse helps you manage your ongoing health condition, coordinate your medications, and monitor your symptoms between office visits. This bill would eliminate those out-of-pocket costs starting January 1, 2024, meaning Medicare would cover 100 percent of these services with no copayments or deductibles.

The practical impact is straightforward: seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare would no longer have to pay anything when they use chronic care management services. If you're currently paying a copay every time your care coordinator calls to check on you or helps you schedule appointments with specialists, that cost would go away. This could encourage more people to actually use these services, since cost wouldn't be a barrier. The bill essentially treats chronic care management the same way Medicare treats preventive services like flu shots—completely free to the patient.

The change only affects Medicare Part B (the part that covers doctor services and outpatient care), and it specifically targets chronic care management services. This doesn't change how you pay for regular doctor visits, medications, or hospital stays. The bill was introduced in April 2023 and would need to pass both the House and Senate to become law.

Chronic Care Management Improvement Act of 2023

Duncan, Jeff

Chronic Care Management Improvement Act of 2023 This bill eliminates cost-sharing for chronic care management services under Medicare.