1. Should Medicare be turned into a voucher program?
Medicare should not be turned into a voucher program. Reasons the Department of Health and Human Services would disagree with a voucher program are that private insurance would be more expensive, it would delay care for some beneficiaries, and that Medicare will help reduce health care costs. This program should remain unchanged to continue to help seniors receive more affordable care. Elderly people are a vulnerable population that needs to be covered and their health insurance coverage needs to be taken care of in a structured manner to avoid confusion. This stance on opposing a Medicare voucher program is supported by the mission of the Department of Health and Human Services. They strive to provide health care to everyone, “especially for those who are least able to help themselves,” which would include seniors.
It would be unfair to make seniors fend for themselves in the private market. In many cases, an advocate would be needed if they do not have family or someone willing to take the responsibility to help them find the right health insurance plan. Some may argue for vouchers because there is low acceptance of Medicare patients by providers. While there are issues with provider acceptance, private insurance is generally more expensive. Private insurance companies are also worse with bargaining when pricing increases. This means that consumer costs in the private market are more variable and unpredictable than under Medicare. In addition, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is working to close the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D. Flooding the private market with more consumers would perpetuate, or even increase, the gap which would lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for...
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...ndation.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/8457-the-cost-of-not-expanding-medicaid4.pdf>.
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
Brad Wright. “The Safety-Net: Health Care for Vulnerable Populations.” 7 Nov 2013.
“About HHS.”
“Appendix B3: Priority Goals.” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 6 Nov 2013. < http://www.hhs.gov/strategic-plan/appendixb3.html>.
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
John Holahan, et al. “The Cost of Not Expanding Medicaid.”
This could be controversial, if older, sicker people who need the coverage most enter the market, but younger groups decline to do so. The insurance pool will be unbalanced and the cost of coverage will rise correspondingly. The process of choosing a health insurance provider should be more consumer friendly. People covered by their employer can clear their doubt about health insurance by conversing with the Human Resource department, whereas people who buy through marketplaces or health insurance exchanges, as in the case of ACA, may not have any resource to give further explanation.
When it validated the constitutionality of The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2012, the United States Supreme Court also ruled that states could decide for themselves whether or not to expand their Medicaid programs (Sonfield, 2012). Predictably, South Carolina said no. The Palmetto State’s decision not to expand Medicaid in concert with the Affordable Care Act was wrong, and it is time to correct that mistake.
For decades, one of the many externalities that the government is trying to solve is the rising costs of healthcare. "Rising healthcare costs have hurt American competitiveness, forced too many families into bankruptcy to get their families the care they need, and driven up our nation's long-term deficit" ("Deficit-Reducing Healthcare Reform," 2014). The United States national government plays a major role in organizing, overseeing, financing, and more so than ever delivering health care (Jaffe, 2009). Though the government does not provide healthcare directly, it serves as a financing agent for publicly funded healthcare programs through the taxation of citizens. The total share of the national publicly funded health spending by various governments amounts to 4 percent of the nation's gross domestic product, GDP (Jaffe, 2009). By 2019, government spending on Medicare and Medicaid is expected to rise to 6 percent and 12 percent by 2050 (Jaffe, 2009). The percentages, documented from the Health Policy Brief (2009) by Jaffe, are from Medicare and Medicaid alone. The rapid rates are not due to increase of enrollment but growth in per capita costs for providing healthcare, especially via Medicare.
Healthcare has been a topic of discussion with the majority of the country. Issues with insurance coverage, rising costs, limited options to gain coverage, and the quality of healthcare have become concerns for law makers, healthcare providers and the general public. Some of those concerns were alleviated with the passing of the Affordable Care Act, but new concerns have developed with problems that have occurred in the implementation of the new law. The main concerns of the country are if the Affordable Care Act will be able to overcome the issues that plagued the old healthcare system, the cost of the program, and how will the new law affect the quality of the health delivery system.
Medicare is a social policy many of our seniors look to for their stability when they reach 65
...s quite a smart idea for us to having something as a backup plan because who knows what could potentially happen if we don’t have it where can lead to a serious turmoil. But let’s be real clear on this every American needs Health Insurance Despite the circumstances of what it can have on everyone we should have it reguardless.If the Companies are willing to provide a less expensive one then what’s the reason to overcharge us for it.in all honestly The Healthcare companies want individuals to choose what they feel is best for them and what it can offer for support in giving them the right benefits to obtain for their life. Why should American settle for less when they can settle better to have the best.as individuals we need to understand that its healthcare Companies is not based on the name it’s all about what you’re able to afford and how much can it cover in orde
The question, however, is whether or not such drug coverage is a worthwhile project to undertake. Is the problem indeed serious enough to call for the type of reform that the candidates are proposing? Medicare is already a very costly program to keep up, and adding prescription-drug coverage would increase these costs even more. In order to fund this project, there will need to be a tax hike. Should taxpayers subsidize this prescription-drug benefit? Is there a good reason why this redistribution should take place? What are the benefits and costs of this proposal? These and other questions will be addressed in this paper as we examine the following topics: the need for senior citizens to have prescription-drug coverage, the political rhetoric involved with this issue, the projected shortfall in the budget of the Medicare program, and who really would benefit if a prescription-drug benefit was added to Medicare.
Medicare was designed as a universal healthcare program for individuals 65 years old and older. This program is funded by Medicare taxes and general federal funding withholding taxes. Medicare is a partnership between federal and state with the goal to provide medical insurance to the elderly that is poor and disabled. Generally all people who are 65 years or older and qualify for social security will automatically qualify for Medicare.
In 1965 President Johnson signed both Medicare and Medicaid programs into law (Nile, 2011). According to Medical news today, “Medicare is a social insurance program that serves more than 44 million enrollees as of 2008” (MediLexicon International Ltd, 2011, para2). It cost about $432 billion or 3.2% of GDP, as of 2007(par2).Medicare is broken down into parts, Part A is hospital Insurance Part B is medical Insurance, and Part D is Medicare prescription drug coverage (medicare.gov). Like we previously stated Medicare is a health insurance for people who are 65 and older, people under 65 with certain disabilities, and people of any age with End- Stage Renal Disease. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program of medical assistance for low income persons (Benefit.gov). It is administered by the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) and Illinois Department of Public Aid (IDPA). Medicaid serves about 40 million people as of 2007; it cost $330 billion, or 2.4% of GDP, in 2007.(par.2) “In Illinois you may be eligible for Medicaid if you are a child, pre...
The author identifies some of the federal and state legislators that are also opposed to the Medicaid expansion in the writer’s district. US Senator John Cornyn says that the Obamacare Medicaid expansion program is formed to be wasteful, fraudulent, and abusive to the nation (Cornyn, 2010). According to US Senator Cornyn, “The $3.4 trillion federal taxpayers spend on the Medicaid program is a target for waste, fraud, and abuse. Instead of fixing these problems, the President’s new health care overhaul includes the largest expansion of the broken Medicaid program since its creation in 1965: it’s only going to get worse from here” (John Cornyn, 2010).
Medicare and Medicaid are two of the United States largest broken systems, which must sustain themselves in order to provide care to their beneficiaries. Both Medicare and Medicaid are funding by a joint effort between the federal government and the local state government. If and when these governments choose to cut funding or reduce spending, Medicare and Medicaid take the biggest hit. Most people see these two benefits as one in the same, two benefits the government takes out of their pay check to help fund health care. While the government does deduct a sum from paychecks everywhere, Medicare and Medicaid are very two very different programs.
The two major components of Medicare, the Hospital Insurance Program (Part A of Medicare) and the supplementary Medical Insurance program (Part B) may be exhausted by the year 2025, another sad fact of the Medicare situation at hand (“Medicare’s Future”). The burden brought about by the unfair dealings of HMO’s is having an adverse affect on the Medicare system. With the incredibly large burden brought about by the large amount of patients that Medicare is handed, it is becoming increasingly difficult to fund the system in the way that is necessary for it to function effectively. Most elderly people over the age of 65 are eligible for Medicare, but for a quite disturbing reason they are not able to reap the benefits of the taxes they have paid. Medicare is a national health plan covering 40 mi...
Medicare and Medicaid are programs that have been developed to assist Americans in attainment of quality health care. Both programs were established in 1965 and are federally supported to provide health care coverage to vulnerable populations such as the elderly, the disabled, and people with low incomes. Both Medicare and Medicaid are federally mandated and determine coverage under each program; both are run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency ("What is Medicare? What is Medicaid?” 2008).
One in six Americans and mostly all of the population 65 years and older, are covered by Medicare. In 2012, Medicare provided for 50.7 million people, 42.1 million aged and 8.5 million disabled, with a total cost of $574 billion. This is about 21% of national health spending and 3.6% of Gross Domestic Product (Davis, 2013). Medicare, being a social insurance program, is required to pay for covered services provided to enrollees so long as the specific criteria is met. On av...
The six priority areas are listed as; healthier eating and active living, tobacco free living, reducing harmful alcohol and drug use, improving mental health, preventing violence and injury, and improving sexual and reproductive health. The backbone of the plan is to influence healthy living choices, developing from childhood, throughout life approaching old ages, leading to lessened risks of burden of disease (Department of Health,