Skip to main content

Medicare: Proposed Changes to the Plan - Part One

Now, I know that some seniors are adamant:

NO CHANGES TO MEDICARE, EVER!

While it might be nice to stand, line in the dirt, opposed to ANY changes in Medicare, I'm afraid that is NOT a realistic scenario.

Medical care - particularly for seniors - is expensive. Insisting that doctors and other medical providers just suck it up, and take less money for services, has led to difficulty getting doctors to agree to see you. NO medical care is worse than pricey medical care.

It's the remedy of choice for politicians - there are fewer doctors than seniors, and seniors are the most reliable voting segment. Better to starve a doctor, than to tell a senior that he has to accept more expensive visits.

I've been investigating this for a few weeks. Like it or not, almost every senior will be affected by this issue.  I've read some of the available proposals, and have summarized a few below. I'll be posting more on this in the coming weeks; it's likely to be tackled early in the new administration's term, perhaps as early as this summer.
  • The AARP presentation lays out some of proposed changes, from the perspective of the Right (Heritage  Foundation) and Left (Brookings Institution), as well as from Avalere Health, a consulting firm on Health Issues. The presentation provides viewpoints from a variety of stakeholders, clearly identified.
  • Changes to Part D only - the ultimate cost of the Part D (medication part) of the Medicare plan was not known when the coverage was implemented by President GW Bush. This paper discusses ways of limiting costs to the providers.
    • Some limits on medication may be necessary. There are a few patients that will use meds that are quite expensive. Some of these are transplant patients; others are fighting chronic illnesses, such as AIDS, liver/kidney/heart disease, and may reasonably be expected to continue using those pricy meds for some time.
    • It may be necessary to adjust co-pays. Like it or not, most of us are sensitive to cost. If the cost of using a particular medication increases, we might be open to a generic or other substitute.
    • Lifetime limits might be a part of this equation. At some point, we might have to weigh the cost of staying alive against the cost of bankrupting ourselves and leaving nothing but bills to our estate.
  • Changes in Medicaid affect not only seniors, but other groups - Workers Comp, government workers, etc. Their plans shift when Medicare does. SOME of the 'concern' for retirees is really concern for their OWN plans.
  • Keep in mind just how much of the federal budget is affected by changes in Medicare.
    • " Taken together, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Programs are an estimated 21% of the federal budget while Social Security is approximately 20%" - emphasis mine.
    • Failure to reduce runaway costs may cause TAXES to increase - and, not just those that primarily affect wage-earners, but consumer costs, as well.
  • What is a "peverse incentive"?
That's all for now - I'll be updating this in Part Two later.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

One Reason to Write

This post sparked mine today. I've been writing (slowly, one anecdote at a time) my memories of my youth, and the stories that I remember being passed down from parents, grandparents, and other long-lived people. I was fortunate - in my mother's family, old age was the default - my grandparents were born in the 19th century, and passed on stories of their youth. My father's family was equally long-lived, but not as talkative (WV vs. Irish-descent). Still, I have an aunt by marriage whose passion is genealogy, and who had compiled a bookshelf of clippings, copies of newspaper stories, and charts of the family, back to pre-Colonial times. If you aren't on Ancestry.com (and, I don't blame you - the price has risen shockingly!), you might want to use a word processing program or app - Google Docs is easy to use, and can be shared with others easily - to write down your memories - personal, or what has been told to you. If you'd rather, set up a videocam, and
2 comments
Read more

Untangling the Mess That is Roadside Service

We're heading out next week to a Physics conference, and, as we are traveling via car, my husband asked me to check out Roadside Assistance. Specifically, did we still have it, or could we get it, on our cell phone plan? The short answer is no. It was discontinued in 2012. The long answer: Sprint - they don't have it AARP - I keep getting information about the WONDERFUL, heavily DISCOUNTED perks you can get for membership in AARP. I never really did join, but they keep sending their magazine each month, along with a card that says I'm a member. Most places accept it for discounts without actually checking to see if I AM a member. I checked their website. They do have a Roadside Assistance plan listed. I click on the link, which pops up a box warning me that YOU ARE LEAVING AARP FOR ANOTHER SITE! I click OK and end up on the site - Allstate. Yes, I think it is somehow affiliated with the insurance company. I check out the rates. Not that cheap, unless you are a
Post a Comment
Read more

First Days of Retirement

AWESOME! Just AWESOME - that's all I have to say about it. I made MAJOR progress on cleaning up the house - bathroom - Check! Living Room - In Process. Desk Cleared - Check! Office - In Process. My goals this month are clearing out paperwork backlog, and general cleaning and organization. So far, so good.
1 comment
Read more