Medicare Monitor
The Palm Beach Post's veteran Washington correspondent, Larry Lipman, tracks policy makers and interest groups who are shaping the future of the federal health insurance program for the elderly.
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Medicare at a glance
Medicare is the federal health care system that covers about 36 million people age 65 and older, plus 7 million disabled. It has four parts:
Part A
Covers inpatient hospital care as well as nursing home, home health and hospice care. Nearly all elderly and disabled Americans qualify for Part A coverage.
Financed by a 2.9 percent payroll tax divided equally between employees and employers.
Part B
Covers outpatient care, doctor’s services, durable medical equipment, home health visits and preventive care. Part B coverage is voluntary, but roughly 40 million are enrolled.
Financed by beneficiary premiums and federal general revenue. Current monthly premiums are $93.50. Starting this year, individuals whose taxable income is more than $80,000 will pay a higher premium.
Part C
Medicare Advantage managed care plans provide health care normally covered by Medicare Parts A and B. They may also provide some other benefits, including prescription drugs, not covered by traditional Medicare. Oart C is voluntary; about 7 million beneficiaries are enrolled.
Financed by Medicare and beneficiary premiums, which vary among plans.
Part D
Medicare prescription drug plans come in two types, those that just cover prescription drugs and those that cover drugs as part of a broader managed care benefit. Part D is voluntary. About 9.2 million beneficiaries are in stand-alone drug plans and about 5.1 million are in managed care drug plans.
The plans are private and financed by Medicare and beneficiary premiums, which vary among plans.
-- Larry Lipman
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Friday, May 2, 2008
By Larry Lipman
| Friday, May 2, 2008, 04:50 PM
AARP is launching a major advertising and lobbying blitz on the Senate aimed at averting a huge jump in Medicare Part B premiums next year.
Starting Sunday, AARP will begin airing a
television ad for the next couple of weeks warning that in order to pay for an expected increase in doctor fees, Congress is thinking about raising premiums, which have doubled since 2000.
“Taking money out of the pockets of older Americans to pay for skyrocketing health care costs just isn’t fair,” the ad says, while the green line on a medical monitor climbs higher and higher.
Well, it’s not precisely accurate. Congress isn’t considering raising premiums. What Congress is thinking about is how to avert a scheduled 10 percent cut in physician payments scheduled to kick in July 1. Doctors have warned that such a cut would mean a reduction in services to Medicare beneficiaries — meaning more docs would refuse to accept new Medicare patients.
AARP doesn’t have a quarrel with the docs getting paid more. But what happens in the Medicare premium formula is that those increased payments are figured into the cost of Medicare — and beneficiaries pay 25 percent of those costs through their Part B premiums.
Higher doctor payments means higher Medicare premiums — and higher copayments for the increased rates.
AARP says it has gotten out of hand. They want Congress to give the docs more, but not take it out of beneficiaries’ pocketbooks.
To avoid the higher premiums, AARP suggests raiding some funds set up by Medicare that haven’t gotten much use. Whether that will be enough to avert the higher premiums may depend on how much of a boost Congress gives the doctors.
In addition to the television ads, AARP will launch a series of print ads in selected areas around the country and step up its efforts to have people call and e-mail their senators. AARP also is collecting signatures on a petition aimed at averting the premium\ increases. The petition can be found at: KeepMedicareFair.org.
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