Healthcare Plan For A Universal Healthcare Program

Medicare is a federally governed insurance program, primarily serving Americans over the age of 65, younger disabled meeting specific disability criteria, and dialysis

Moreover, Medicare has improved quality of life and covers the essential health benefits one needs to stay healthy. Further, Medicare covers short-term home health care and covers the cost of paid companions who assist ‘seniors’ with activities of daily living at an affordable price.

As this baby-boomer generation continues to age there will be profound effects on the way that money is spent on health care and insurance. With approximately 77 million people turning 65 over the next several years, the amount of government spending on Medicare will greatly increase (Gigante, 2012). Thus, the demand for medical care associated with the aging population will so

One dominant economic feature of the healthcare industry is the growing need for both basic and specialized healthcare due to the continued aging of the “Baby Boomer” generation. This generation consists of over 79,000,000 individuals born in the US between 1946 and 1964. As this generation has aged, the need for healthcare has increased dramatically. Let us take a look at some statistics:

It has been recognized that ever since its passage into law the Affordable Care Act frequently known as Obamacare has and will continue to attract criticism and scrutiny. This is the America`s major and mainly well-liked social indemnity programs. Despite the fact the Affordable Care Act is a highly multifaceted piece of legislation featuring many regulatory and intergovernmental provisions meant to deal with lack of health insurance coverage affecting a variety of diverse groups, Medicare and social security are much more focused programs providing benefits primarily to the aged. Social security and Medicare were in the beginning implemented more without difficulty and with a little of bipartisan support, because in 1935 and 1965 democrats

Notably, the elderly populace is growing rapidly, and will reach 3.4 million or 12.8% of the population. Eventually, in the next thirty years older adults will comprise of 20% of the total population due to the aging of 76 million baby boomers (Olson, 2001). Seeing that, entitlement programs and means-tested benefits, are presented, in order to bolster this increment of older adults. Accordingly, around 96% of the American workforce is secured by Social Security and it is likewise estimated that 58 million American will receive a total of $816 billion in Social Security benefits (Moody and Sasser, 2015). In fact, today 56 million or 17% of the population is enlisted in Medicare (Leonard, 2015). Therefore, this has presented an open deliberation about the eventual fate of Medicare and Social Security and regardless of whether changing Medicare and Social Security to means-tested benefits, instead of entitlement programs can resolve the policy issues.

Medicare, which was first enacted by Congress in 1965, is a popular, yet failing, program because of a rapidly increasing population of retirees and their increasing costs; despite program’s flaws, Medicare is difficult to change because of the political influence of the elderly, who approve of the benefits they receive from the program. Medicare provides health benefits to citizens who are eligible for social security benefits(Fiorina, Peterson, Johnson & Mayer 2009). The program is embraced by the public, but Medicare’s increasing cost makes it difficult to sustain. Due to its popularity, the program is also very difficult to change, but without limitations the program will continue to decline in the future.

Medicare and Medicaid has been providing huge benefits for senior citizens and low income families. The one question nobody seems to answer is how are we going to afford this type of insurance? Maya Rockeymoore argues in her article, “Groundless Fears about Medicaid and Medicare,” that we are able to afford this as long as we make good decisions. Rockeymoore claims that we need to keep Medicare and Medicaid or our country will fall apart.

The expansion of Medicare to cover and include all individuals below 65 years of age thus allowing for a single payer form of insurance in the United States. The paper will explore the financial possibilities of Medicare expansion to all individuals, which includes the required amount of money to do so as well as the long-term financial benefits. The paper will also explore the ethical benefits of a universal single payer healthcare system as well as comparisons between countries that have current single payer healthcare

Medicare was established to resolve a human welfare crisis in which endangered to unravel the social and economic aspect of the United States. Medicare was evidence of America’s well-being and control. It was the first developed country to introduce government healthcare.

Medicare is facing a fiscal crisis that threatens its sustainability. The need for significant Medicare reform is increasingly urgent as 76 million baby boomers are expected to retire over the next two decade. According to the 201 Medicare Trustees Report, the Hospital Insurance trust fund will be depleted in 2024. This translates to $27 trillion in unfunded liabilities over the next 75 years. Current projections indicate that health care costs will increase by more that 70 percent over the next ten years and will continue thereafter to consume an increasingly greater portion of personal income.

Due to the upcoming presidential election, the two major political parties, and their candidates, have been focusing on the primary problems that the nation will face. Chief among those problems is the future of Medicare, the national health-insurance plan. Medicare was enacted in 1965, under the administration of Lyndon B. Johnson, in order to provide health insurance for retired citizens and the disabled (Ryan). The Medicare program covers most people aged 65 or older, as well as handicapped people who enroll in the program, and consists of two health plans: a hospital insurance plan (part A) and a medical insurance plan (part B) (Marmor 22). Before Medicare, many Americans didn't have health

During the early stages of our adulthood, we often hear about Medicare and Social Security, but sometimes it doesn 't resonate how important those factors play in our future. Since 1966, Medicare has been providing health insurance to both the old and young while taking money from those who are able to work and provide for themselves. Meanwhile, Social Security is in charge of giving money to those who are old, disabled, widowed, and have low income through taxing citizens. Both of these federal government run programs play a key role in redistributing wealth throughout the country. They are put in place to assure citizens, 65 and older, with disabilities, and fall under the bottom tier of the class system, are cared for and given

The growing concern regarding the financial security of Medicare is one of particular interest to the nearly 72 million baby boomers that become eligible for this government-assisted, and tax-payer bolstered, program over the next two decades. According to the U.S. Census Bureau (2010), there will be a rapid increase in baby-boomers between 2010 and 2030, as the entire baby boomer population move into the 65 years and over category (p.3). Political and financial revisions must be made to ensure the security of Medicare as the numbers of individuals paying into this program are soon to be surpassed by the number of individuals drawing-off this program (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). The elderly are also at a disadvantage with transportation to health care visits, picking up prescriptions, and rehabilitation services. There needs to be an establishment of access not only to primary care providers, hospitals, and rehabilitation services, but access to other aspects of the health care system for the elderly population.

Further compounding the problem, baby boomers have not saved enough for general retirement expenses and are especially unprepared for unplanned expenses such as LTC needs. Many expect that cash-strapped government entitlement programs to fill the savings gaps (Spiegleman, 2013). Because the majority of Americans do not plan in advance to fund LTC, government programs currently account for 63 percent of LTC funding, with Medicaid paying for 40 percent and Medicare paying for 23 percent in the form of post-acute care. Policymakers need to be proactive in reforming the current system to ensure that retirees have access to high quality care without bankrupting future generations. As the baby boomer population ages into Medicare, which is already suffering from its own poor financial health, the consequent rising health care costs could negatively impact the nation’s long-term care system (Adamopoulos, H.,