Medicare recently announced their cost increases for 2009.
Part A - hospitalization is going up, Part B is holding the line, Part D is going up. Part D is not getting any simpler. It's still a pharmaceutical giant's financial bailout. Medicare Advantage Plans are going to get smaller increases and will look more like murder by spreadsheet than they do now.
The fact that Part B premiums and deductibles aren't going up is great news for Medicare beneficiaries. This is the first year with no increase since Bush took office 2000.
This is the best Bush could do for McCain. Roll out a quiet, through the backdoor, announcement of the 2009 Medicare increases and decreases. There isn't a lot to crow about anyway.
Medicare Health Care is the 800 pound gorilla in the room. McCain, Bush and the Republican Machine are hoping their base will continue to vote their self-interest. They hope the "Sucks for you!" crowd, the ones with access to care, but don't give a damn about those who don't will continue to "stay the course". McCain and Co. stress personal responsibility for health care and fail to realize that the insured are scared as hell that they may face health care costs they can't pay for.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) claimed that controlling the cost of health care requires placing the burden on individuals.
We have to make the recipient of the health care more responsible. We have to have outcome-based results for health care. We have to emphasize wellness and fitness.
That was last January; today, McCain's health care plan is to shove everyone into expensive individual insurance plans that cover less than what they have now. Then if that doesn't work, blame the people for not taking good enough care of themselves. As if that's a solution.
The Medicare vote is very important to McCain and his fellow Republicans. This group of people over 65 are the most likely voter. That makes a Medicare premium rate hike problematic in a Presidential Election year. The thing is that Part B is used more than Part D and much more than Part A. People's view of economics tends to be framed by their own checkbook, so it is possible an increase in Medicare Part B premiums could shift a McCain supporter over to the Obama column.
Which leads me to Part D. CMS is still patting themselves on the back for this "fine" program. It's very complicated and the explanations often need explaining. It's a no brainer why the Part D increases aren't more heavily covered - no one wants to try and explain the program or how it will affect anybody.
The decrease to the Medicare Advantage Plan providers is also under reported by the MSM and, when it is, it's with no analysis of the obvious. "Murder By Spreadsheet is Projected to Increase Sharply in 2009" is hardly a McCain/Bush friendly headline.
It's more likely that rising Medicare costs will drive people to the Bush solution 2003, the so-called Medicare Advantage Plans that aren't that much of an advantage. They are supposed to offer more comprehensive coverage that's traded off for less choice. The "advantage" is that they are simpler for the Medicare benficiary to use. The disadvantages are many, but some are more trouble than others. First, is the murder by spreadsheet mindset we all know and hate about insurance companies. These plans will do well by you if you are healthy. If you are sick, you'll stay sick and end up with a whole lot of denial of care.
Another problem is with enrolling into one of these "advantage plans". Trying to figure out which "advantage Plan" offers the best comprehensive care for the shopping retiree is, at best, difficult.
Then add this annoyance, MA Plans do not save the taxpayer any money. In fact, they cost more than the traditional Medicare program. (You guessed it, the excess profits go to the advantage of the privatizing insurance company instead of back to the US general fund.
The costs of privatization of the Medicare Advantage Plan is about $8.5 billion - or about a month in Iraq - over what traditional Medicare costs the taxpayer. Advantage Plans are so profitable that their sales practices are considered predatory and now Medicare has new rules which should stop some of these abuses. Never fear, those who work for and around MA Plans are working on the problems. This is what they said in March 2008 in contrast to their current sage advice.
I'd like to conclude with a short forty-three year history recap of Medicare and the progression of how it has become such a mess.
Medicare was signed into law by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. It worked well, but costs rose much higher than inflation. Ronald Reagan in the 80's introduced the Prospective Payment System and a law that allowed the first privatization of the Medicare program, the Humana Gold Plus Plan. The PPS created a financial pressure cooker in health care markets and the Humana Gold Pus Plan created a financial debacle that hasn't been seen again until this year. In the 90's, the Clinton's initiative didn't have bipartisan support, so the status quo persisted. In 2003 George Bush came up with a form of privatization of the Medicare program with Medicare Advantage Plans. It has cost taxpayers an extra $8.5 billion. Not to be deterred, Medicare Part D for drug benefits is now a reality. Another program that gives nod to corporate interests - namely profits and ungodly ones at that. McCain sees nothing wrong with what Bush has done and his plan will be more McSame or worse for most of us. He wants to push people into individual health care policies or HDHP's and HSA's and remove the tax favored status of employer contributions.
If McCain succeeds with his the system's fundamentally sound approach, it will be "Sucks for You!" on a massive scale.
Contrast McCain's approach with that of Obama. The first words out of his mouth, "Oh, the system's broken..." and he heads out from there.
What a difference.
Change We Need.
Indeed.
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This information doesn't fit in well with the diary, but this might be of interest for those of you who are on Medicare or have family on Medicare.
Here's the schedule of traditional Medicare costs for 2009:
Part A hospital is going up
Deductibles up 4.3 percent to $1,068 for stays under 60 days,
$267 per day for days 61 to 90, and
$534 per day otherwise.
Part B is staying the same:
Part B premium covering doctor and outpatient care:
$96.40 per month for individuals with incomes under $85,000 per year and couples under $170,000.
About 5 percent of seniors with higher incomes will pay $134.90 to $308.30.
Part B deductible that recipients pay before coverage starts: $135, unchanged.
Co-payments remain at 20 percent of the limiting fee for most procedures. Zero for qualifying laboratory services.
Part D is going up
* Part D Premiums are going up 12% from $25 per month for basic coverage to $28.
* Initial Deductible is going up $20 (7 1/4%): from $275 in 2008 to $295 in 2009
* Initial Coverage Limit is going up $190 (7 1/2%):
from $2,510 in 2008 to $2,700 in 2009
* Out-of-Pocket Threshold is going up 7.4%:
from $4,050 in 2008 to $4,350 in 2009
* Minimum Cost-sharing in the Catastrophic Coverage Portion of the Benefit:
from $2.25 for generic or preferred drug that is a multi-source drug and $5.60 for all other drugs in 2008 to $2.40 for generics and $6.00 for other drugs in 2009
* Maximum Co-payments below the Out-of-Pocket Threshold for certain Low Income Full Subsidy Eligible Enrollees:
from $2.25 for generic or preferred drug that is a multi-source drug and $5.60 for all other drugs in 2008 to $2.40 for generics and $6.00 for other drugs in 2009.