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Medicare and … the Military?
I read David Brooks’ New York Times editorial yesterday with dismay. It seems Medicare is not only to blame for the federal deficit, but also for Sen. Hagel’s nomination and the end of America’s military might. I have been representing Medicare beneficiaries and studying Medicare since 1977. Even I was surprised by these positions.
The determination to slash Medicare seems never ending. One hardly knows where to begin responding. But we need to try, before it’s too late. Before the next deficit cutting activities get underway, we need to set the record straight.
The basic, public Medicare program was a cost-effective success. Medicare brought access to health care to older people who were refused private health insurance. It dramatically decreased poverty among older people. Unnecessary payments to private Medicare plans, unrestricted payments for prescription drugs and policies aimed at privatizing Medicare increased the program’s costs exponentially. These expensive provisions should be the targets for those whose true goal is to reduce the deficit. If the will exists, there is a way to reduce costs while preserving Medicare’s promise.
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Watch this short video from the Kaiser Family Foundation: http://www.kff.org/medicare/medicare-timeline2.cfm. It will remind you why Medicare matters.
Quick!
Stop paying anything more to Medicare Advantage plans than to traditional Medicare. Listen to the GAO and stop all bonus payments to private Medicare plans. Start negotiating what Medicare pays for prescription drugs. Then recalculate Medicare’s fiscal solvency and begin serious discussions about Medicare’s future.
Constant calls for changing Medicare into a Voucher system will simply increase privatization of Medicare. Once again we’ll give taxpayer dollars to the insurance industry, increase costs to older people, disabled people, and their familes – and do nothing to address the needs of tomorrow.
Change the conversation. Insist on real solutions.
No Deal is Better Than a Bad Deal
The Center for Medicare Advocacy is neither particularly surprised nor terribly disappointed that the Super Committee did not reach a budget cutting agreement. Many of the Medicare proposals the Committee was considering, such as increasing the age of eligibility and increasing cost-sharing for beneficiaries, would be harmful to the Medicare program and to older and disabled people while not decreasing overall health care costs.
There are ways to strengthen Medicare and reduce costs – such as requiring Medicare to negotiate drug prices, never paying private Medicare plans more than traditional Medicare, adding a drug benefit to the traditional program, lowering the age of Medicare eligibility, and letting the Affordable Care Act do its job. The Center for Medicare Advocacy has long advocated these ideas, and others like them, that would achieve real cost-savings without harming beneficiaries or ending Medicare altogether.
There is still time to secure the financial welfare of Medicare and the country, without doing so at the expense of older, disabled people and their families. There are solutions if those in authority will insist on spending only what is necessary to provide fair health coverage, and refuse spending one dime to change Medicare into a publicly-funded opportunity for private insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
With the end of the Super Committee, decision-makers have a new opportunity to carefully explore such solutions. If politicians find the will, there are ways to save Medicare, meet the needs of its beneficiaries and decrease costs.
Medicare and Jobs: Not Mutually Exclusive!
The more people have health insurance, including Medicare, the more they stay healthy and are able to work. If health insurance is provided by Medicare or health care reform or any avenue outside the tired employer-based system, it reduces costs for employers and encourages hiring. Ask any employer.
Continuing to tie health insurance to employment only continues a system that COSTS jobs. It creates a disincentive for employers to hire. It creates an incentive for the new employment reality: Freelance, contract work, part-time, whatever you want to call the newly underemployed who do not have benefits and for whom employers do not pay into Medicare, Social Security, Unemployment, or Workers Comp. This is a big problem for everyone involved, including individual workers, their families, AND the solvency of important programs that Americans value and that have lifted generations out of poverty and provided fair access to health care.
Pay attention, people! We not only can have Medicare and jobs – we will have more jobs if we increase access to Medicare and health care. Don’t raid Medicare to pay for jobs. That will only reduce access to both.
Medicare Facts & Fiction: 3 More Lessons to Combat Medicare Spin
Congress continues to propose Medicare changes that will have severe repercussions for beneficiaries and their families. Policymakers and pundits are feeding the media and the public misinformation about Medicare. The truth is, most people with Medicare are low-income and most pay more for health care than other insured Americans. Nonetheless, Medicare Works. For 46 years it has opened doors to necessary care for millions of older people, people with disabilities, and their families.
Did you know?
- Medicare beneficiaries already spend a disproportionate share of their income on health expenses. Health expenses accounted for nearly 15% of Medicare household budgets in 2009, on average – three times the percentage of health spending among non-Medicare households (Kaiser Family Foundation Data Spotlight: Health Care on a Budget, June 2011)
- The financial burden of health care costs is greatest for Medicare beneficiaries ages 85 and older, those in relatively poor health, those with low or modest incomes, and those with Medigap supplemental policies (Kaiser Family Foundation Data Spotlight: How Much Skin in the Game is Enough?, June 2011)
- Half of all Medicare beneficiaries had incomes below $22,000 in 2010; less than 1% had incomes over $250,000
- Median per capita income declines with age, and is lower for black, Hispanic, and unmarried Medicare beneficiaries (Kaiser Family Foundation Data Spotlight: Projecting Income and Assets, June 2011)
- Raising the age of Medicare eligibility to 67, as has been proposed recently, will not produce significant savings: according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, most savings to the Medicare program would be off-set by other federal expenditures, and there would be a net increase in out of pocket costs for those age 65 and 66 who would otherwise have been covered by Medicare (Kaiser Family Foundation, Raising the Age of Medicare Eligibility, July 2011)
Surely there are better ways to save money than by piling more onto an already burdened population?
Center for Medicare Advocacy Recommended as Top-10 Caregiver Resource
Jane Gross, creator of The New York Times‘ “New Old Age” blog, recently highlighted the Center for Medicare Advocacy as a top 10 resource for caregivers in an appearance on “Krista Tippet On Being” on NPR. The episode, entitled “The Far Shore of Aging” is garnering an overwhelming response from listeners. See the complete list of resources, and listen to the full show, at http://being.publicradio.org/programs/2011/far-shore-of-aging/gross_topten.shtml.
10 Years of Tax Cuts for the Rich, 10 Years of Increased Debt
June 7, 2011, marked the 10th anniversary of Bush tax cuts that disproportionately benefited wealthy Americans. The rich are opening champagne bottles to celebrate, while advocates for older people and people with disabilities are trying to stave off the cuts to Social Security, SSI, SNAP, Medicare and Medicaid that some claim are needed so that these cuts can continue or even be expanded.
Why are the wealthy celebrating? According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, people with incomes in excess of $1 million saw a 6.2% increase in after-tax dollars as a result of the tax cuts, as opposed to the 2.2% increase experienced by average families earning $40,000-$50,000 per year. The average dollar tax benefit per tax payer for millionaires was $128,832 (or about three times the income of the average family). The average dollar tax benefit per tax payer for the $40,000-$50,000 tax payers was $860.
What’s more, CBPP says that the cost of extending tax cuts for the richest Americans is about the same as the projected Social Security shortfall as a share of the gross domestic product (GDP) over 75 years, .7% for tax cut extensions versus .8% for the Social Security shortfall.
And finally, if the tax cut for the rich was allowed to expire, the increase in the debt would stop over the next 10 years.
So why are we talking about capping spending for programs that help middle and low-income Americans, or turning Medicare into a voucher program and Medicaid into a block grant? The simplest solution would be drink one more glass of champagne for the Bush tax cuts and let them wither away on the vine.
Health Care Reform: A Family Value – Support it!
While some work to repeal Health Care Reform, others are already benefiting from its provisions.
People who have already benefited from health reform are at both ends of the age spectrum. Young and old, they reflect the family value of the law, particularly given these tough economic times when jobs are lost, unavailable, and employers are increasingly dropping benefits.
Here are some stories the Center for Medicare Advocacy has heard in just the last day:
1. A Connecticut State Health Insurance and Assistance Program (SHIP) counselor writes: “I know a lot of our seniors will benefit from the government slowly getting rid of the Donut Hole in prescription drug coverage.” This is echoed by many others including:
• An older Connecticut woman and her niece, from Delaware, both went into the Donut Hole in 2010 and both received $250 as a result of health care reform to help out.
• A gentleman from Florida reached the Donut Hole in both 2009 and 2010, and expects to do so again in 2011. He appreciated the $250 help in 2010 and, given his heart and other health problems, he will certainly benefit from health reform’s 50% discount on Brand name drugs in 2011.
2. Another individual writes:
• “I have a sister who is 25 years old and was unable to find a job that would provide health care coverage due to the economy. She has very serious ear problems and required two major surgeries to replace her ear drum in both ears. If she was not able to be on our parents’ health insurance plan, she would not have been able to afford the surgeries and would have gone completely deaf. It is very difficult to be a young person out of college during these times. Even if you can find a job, it is very difficult to find a full time job with health benefits. I consider myself extremely lucky that I did find a job with benefits, but do know many who had no health insurance for some time. These young people need the cushion of being on their parents’ insurance until 26 when they can find a stable job with health benefits because in this economy, less and less employers are offering benefits to young people.”
The importance of health reform allowing young adults to obtain coverage on their parent’s health insurance plan is reiterated by another individual:
• “ I can personally speak for the kids 26 and under part of this. I have two kids under 26. One does not live at home. He is 22 and working at a job without health insurance. He would have no health insurance without being able to stay on my insurance. He was able to have an expensive blood test to find out if he has a potentially life threatening blood disorder because he had my health insurance to cover it.”
3. Four of the Center for Medicare Advocacy’s own employees have young adult children who have lost their jobs or are employed, but their employers do not provide health insurance. Again, these young people only have health insurance as a result of health care reform which allows them to be covered by the Center’s health insurance. At least one of these young adults has an on-going mix of mental health and medical problems that require on-going health care.
Health care reform is helping families struggling to deal with illnesses, age, unemployment, and underemployment. The law advances family values.
Vote!
As if Medicare and your health depend upon it.
CMA Health Policy Blog 