Comment on the following statement: “The proposal to increase Medicare cost sharing (increasing premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance) will deprive the elderly poor of needed medical services.”¬¬ Many proposals to reorganize Medicare could increase the financial and health risks faced by the vulnerable elderly. Turning Medicare into a premium-support system a voucher set randomly at the value of the second-least-expensive insurance plan could shift costs to elderly households. Increasing the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 will leave many Americans ages 65 and 66 without insurance. The basic idea of part A Medicare payment is simple. The patient pays a deductible that approximately equal to the cost of the first day in the hospital;
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) had mame dramatic changes in the field of the health care system, especially in Medicare, that will seriously take effect in American seniors. Indeed, much of the health law’s new spending is financed by spending reductions in the Medicare program. In addition to the provider payment reductions, Obamacare significantly reduces payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by an estimated $156 billion from 2013 to 2022.( Elmendorf, letter to Speaker Boehner). About 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA plans, a system of regulated and private plans competing against each other as an alternative to traditional Medicare. MA plans are attractive to beneficiaries because they offer more generous and comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare by capping out-of-pocket costs and offering drug coverage to a rasonable
The Medicare program is being perceived that it will go bankrupt in about 10 years unless there is major reform. There are six recommendations that should be reformed for the protection of the program for future generations. The program must protect retirees from an economic healthcare disaster. The cost of the program must be shared and this will motivate benefactors to reduce cost by adding accountability to the program. Reducing Medicare expenditures will have a much larger impact than increasing taxes. Calculating the retirement age in correlation to life
I was intrigued by the amount of pill bottles that one patient had in his kitchen cupboard which made me reflect on the cost of health care produced by the older adult. I began to research the cost of living longer and found that as of 2011, 24 percent of the Medicare population were over the age of 80. I also found that Medicare spending for those above the age of 85 averages around $14,745 (Neuman, Cubanski, Huaung, & Damico, 2015). So I ended up learning that the older
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
Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people with certain disabilities, end stage renal disease, and for those who are over the age of 65. There are four different parts to Medicare, part A, part B, part C, and part D. Medicare Part A, also known as hospital insurance, covers inpatient hospital stays, care in nursing facilities, hospice care, and some in home health care. Part B is often referred to as medical insurance; it covers certain doctors’ services, outpatient care, medical supplies, and preventative care services. Medicare Part C, otherwise known as Medicare advantage plan is offered by a private
Medicare provides federal health insurance coverage to millions of elderly, and disabled Americans. As of 2015 data by the Kaiser Family Foundation, Medicare covers 55 million people. Medicare covers people age 65 and older, people younger than 65 with certain disabilities, and people of all ages with End-Stage Renal Disease, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Medicare, 2015). Medicare consists of several different components, including: Part A, Part B, Part C, and Part D. This Federal health insurance program, Medicare, is financed by several sources, including taxes, revenue, and premiums. Each part of Medicare has different eligibility requirements and provides different benefits, and covered services.
Suitable health care would not be possible for the elderly population in America without the assistance of Medicare Part A. Medicare did not come about easily. Currently Medicare spending is more than what is being collected, questioning future solvency. There are many challenges with sustaining Medicare into the future. Medicare’s past struggles, present outcomes, and future challenges confirm that a national health plan is ever evolving to meet the needs of the current population and spending inflation.
Medicaid and Medicare was created and called the Social Security Act of 1965 to provide coverage for medical treatment for qualified individuals and their families. Medicaid is a program that is jointly funded and managed by the federal and state governments that reimburse hospital and physician for providing care to qualified patients who cannot afford medical expense. To qualify for Medicaid he or she must be a United States or resident citizen which, includes low income adults and their children, people with certain disabilities and senior citizens. “Medicaid and Medicare is overlooked by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid,
As the population ages, people want the security of knowing that they have health care coverage. At age 65, people have the opportunity to be covered by Medicare. Medicare has four parts to it; part A which is the hospital insurance, part B which is the medical insurance, part C is Medicare Advantage plan which offers extra coverage such as vision, hearing, dental and/or wellness programs, and part D is prescription drug coverage. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act survived a vote of the Supreme Court justices and changes will be implemented within the next few years. As people age and the number of people entering the golden
Medicare is a health insurance program purposely created for people over sixty five (65) years of age. However the service is open to people with certain disabilities or permanent kidney failures. The process of choosing the right Medicare involves having to weigh different plans on account of benefits of their cover. Different types of Medicare plans are important in: Inpatient hospital care, outpatient services, doctor visits, home health care, prescription drugs, and care in a skilled nursing facility among others. In addition, the program covers the cost of health care but does not cover all medical expenses including cost of long term care. If one ought to choose an original Medicare coverage, one may buy a Medicare supplement policy from a private insurance company to aid in coverage of costs that are not supported by Medicare. Most of these Medicare expenses are covered by a part of the pay role offered to workers by their employer. This paper covers different Medicare plans; A, B, C, D and their influence towards my decision on the best preferred option.
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
The overriding issue facing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid is the changing of America’s demographic makeup. Shortly after the close of the Second World War, the U.S. saw a dramatic rise in fertility, called the Baby Boom generation. The sharp rise and following fall of U.S. fertility produced what is often called a demographic dividend. The demographic dividend provided by these workers coincided with an era of unparalleled economic growth for the United States and the rest of the world. But the demographic dividend provided by the Baby Boomers is coming to an end. Beginning in 2011, the Baby Boomers began to retire and the aged dependency ratio is set to markedly increase. The Social Security Administration estimate that the U.S. aged dependency ratio will rise to 35% in 2030 from the 2010
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
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.
After four decades of failure to enact a universal healthcare program, advocates decided to refine their approach in the 1950s, and the strategy that ultimately led to the passage of Medicare and Medicaid was formulated. Wilbur Cohen and I.S. Falk recognized that a health insurance plan focused on Social Security beneficiaries would be much easier to sell than a plan for all Americans. By limiting its benefits to the elderly, Medicare could be portrayed as a program for people who met two important criteria: they had greater need for healthcare coverage and they were especially deserving of public assistance. Because of their age, seniors have relatively high medical costs--when Medicare was passed, average healthcare expenses for people sixty-five or older were twice the average expenses for younger persons. (Orentlicher, D. (2012).