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Medicare is prohibited from negotiating the price of " medical equipment". As a result Medicare pays multiples of what Walmart charges for a simple walker, provided an MD writes a script for the device.
Medicare is also prohibited from negotiating the cost of prescription meds and so the government pays more than any other nation. We could buy the same meds from Canada for less.
Medicare part D was a Republican initiative, just in time for the 2004 election. Not a single beneficiary paid a dime for this perk. Costs were not cut elsewhere to offset. Payroll taxes were not increased. It's all deficit spend and no surprise actual costs exceed projections.
One would think the tea party would latch onto this and insist Medicare be allowed to negotiate. But they have not. Big pharma/ medical equipment manufactures own Congress, regardless of party.
Location: By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea
68,330 posts, read 54,400,252 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pghquest
Oh nonsense.. We were told by Obama that he was going to go through federal spending line by line and eliminate all of the wasteful spending..
Hey, Reagan told us government was THE problem, made the problem BIGGER, yet people love him like a God. Maybe Obama's just trying to get some of that misplaced love. After all, they do share the well earned title of The Teflon POTUS.
If the government is presented a bill for twice what is sold retail and pays it then the government is the fool here, no one else.
But hey..the government doesn't have to worry because it's not accountable to anyone.
Taxpayers provide a steady revenue stream and the Fed printing press makes up the difference.
Congress tied Medicare's hand. Medicare is not allowed to negotiate prices of medical equiptment, prescribed byan MD.
Medicare part D was a Republican initiative, just in time for the 2004 election. Not a single beneficiary paid a dime for this perk. Costs were not cut elsewhere to offset. Payroll taxes were not increased. It's all deficit spend and no surprise actual costs exceed projections.
You couldn't be more wrong. No surprise, though. I'm actually afraid to ask where you get your bogus information.
Fraud is always present in anything the government does with our money. The only way to stop it is to end the program.
There are alternatives to throwing out the baby with the bathwater. It does not have to be an all or nothing proposition.
Congress could undo the damage it did when they decided to not allow Medicare to negotiate the price of medical equipment and prescription meds. Doing so would however mean biting the multi- billion lobbies that own Congress.
How are reinbursement rates set by the free enterprise system?
And better, why arent you upset that this money isnt better being spent on the children? Isnt that what you left wing kooks always go back on when bashing spending Republicans propose? Now all of a sudden penis pumps are not only ok, but justified.[/quot
Why would Medicare be spent on children? Children already have numerous programs.
We don't get to vote in the people who pay these bills.
Voting won't change anything.
Auditing and accountability and changing policies is what needs to happen.
But since no one gets in trouble for it then the waste will continue.
Requires Congress to authorize Medicare to negotiate prices. Congress tied the hands of Medicare as it relates to devices deemed medically necessary by MDs.
Many seniors have scripts for compression socks. The local medical supply company charges multiples of the cost of the same socks being sold at Amazon and eBay without a script. If the senior buys the socks at Amazon, they will pay out of pocket. If they buy at a medical supply business, Medicare gets and pays the bill so long as it is in the range of what is being charged by other medical supply businesses in the area.
Why would Medicare be spent on children? Children already have numerous programs.
If it wasnt being spent on one program, then it would be available to be spent elsewhere.. If this was a Republican idea to just pass out money for all sorts of things, the left would be suggesting that we are starving children by taking money from the school lunch program, or even worse, throwing more grannies off a cliff..
Requires Congress to authorize Medicare to negotiate prices. Congress tied the hands of Medicare as it relates to devices deemed medically necessary by MDs.
Many seniors have scripts for compression socks. The local medical supply company charges multiples of the cost of the same socks being sold at Amazon and eBay without a script. If the senior buys the socks at Amazon, they will pay out of pocket. If they buy at a medical supply business, Medicare gets and pays the bill so long as it is in the range of what is being charged by other medical supply businesses in the area.
The system works the way Congress intended.
And yet you applaud ACA and suggest its going to make things cheaper somehow..
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