Social Security Administration December 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

We are revising our regulations to incorporate changes to the Medicare prescription drug coverage low-income subsidy (Extra Help) program made by the Affordable Care Act which was enacted on March 23, 2010. Under our interpretation of section 3304 of the Affordable Care Act and this interim final rule, if the death of a beneficiary's spouse would decrease or eliminate the subsidy provided by the Extra Help program, we will, based on a determination, or redetermination, extend the effective period of eligibility for the most recent determination or redetermination until 1 year after the month following the month we are notified of the death of the spouse. These regulatory changes will allow us to implement this provision of the Affordable Care Act when it goes into effect on January 1, 2011. We are also revising our regulations to incorporate changes made by the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA), which affect the way we account for income and resources when determining eligibility for the Extra Help program. The statute provides that we no longer count as a resource the value of any life insurance policy for Extra Help applications filed, or redeterminations that are effective, on or after January 1, 2010. In addition, we will no longer count as income the help a beneficiary receives when someone else provides food and shelter, or pays household bills for food, mortgage, rent, electricity, water, property taxes, or heating fuel or gas. These revisions will update our rules to reflect these statutory changes.

We are announcing that the assessment percentage rate under sections 206(d) and 1631(d)(2)(C) of the Social Security Act (Act), 42 U.S.C. 406 (d), and 1383(d)(2)(C), is 6.3 percent for 2011.

In accordance with the Privacy Act (5 U.S.C. 552a(e)(4) and (e)(11)), we are issuing public notice of our intent to establish a system of records, the Central Repository of Electronic Authentication Data Master File (hereinafter referred to as the e-Authentication File) and its applicable routine uses. The e-Authentication File will maintain personally identifiable information (PII) we collect and use to verify the identity of persons using our electronic services. We discuss the e-Authentication File and its routine use disclosures in the Supplementary Information section below. We invite public comments on the e-Authentication File.

We are adding a new subpart to our regulations, which contains the rules we will apply to determine the income-related monthly adjustment amount for Medicare prescription drug coverage premiums. This new subpart implements changes made to the Social Security Act (Act) by the Affordable Care Act. These rules parallel the rules in subpart B of this part, which describes the rules we apply when we determine the income-related monthly adjustment amount for certain Medicare Part B (medical insurance) beneficiaries. These rules describe the new subpart; what information we will use to determine whether you will pay an income-related monthly adjustment amount and the amount of the adjustment when applicable; when we will consider a major life- changing event that results in a significant reduction in your modified adjusted gross income; and how you can appeal our determination about your income-related monthly adjustment amount. These rules will allow us to implement the provisions of the Affordable Care Act on time that relate to the income-related monthly adjustment amount for Medicare prescription drug coverage premiums, when they go into effect on January 1, 2011.