Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So much misinformation, half truths and downright lies perpetrated by those who hate the ACA.
These following statements are bare bones truths.
1. Medicare co-pays and deductibles have remained the same since long before Obamacare. If there are increases that patients are experiencing it is because of their Advantage Plans or Supplementals, which are not Medicare but private insurance.
2. As stated, no money has been cut from Medicare. Yearly cost increases have been pared and that 716 billion that some claim has been cut from Medicare is patently false. The 716 is over a ten year period running until 2022.
3. The donut hole that exits in part D existed before the ACA was even passed legislation. The financial burden on patients reaching the donut hole was worse before the ACA. ACA mitigated the patient expense in the donut hole in many cases; not worsened it.
The positive things the ACA did for Medicare was
1. Increase reimbursements to Primary Care Providers and other front line providers.
2. Provide yearly, free general wellness physicals for all Medicare recipients
3. Provide yearly free testing and screening for major illnesses. Including mammograms, colonoscopies, and basic blood work.
Many more services, too numerous to mention.
Also, the jury is in on the numbers and the 25 states who expanded their Medicaid to 135% of the poverty level in accordance with the ACA, have increased coverage for their working poor by a factor of 4 and the hospitals and providers are showing a profit and are financially healthy.
Those 25 states who didn't are showing deep problems with their health providers and hospitals. Many hospitals are bleeding money and are being forced to merge or close. Their level of care is dramatically worse than states who did expand.
So much misinformation, half truths and downright lies perpetrated by those who hate the ACA.
These following statements are bare bones truths.
1. Medicare co-pays and deductibles have remained the same since long before Obamacare. If there are increases that patients are experiencing it is because of their Advantage Plans or Supplementals, which are not Medicare but private insurance.
2. As stated, no money has been cut from Medicare. Yearly cost increases have been pared and that 716 billion that some claim has been cut from Medicare is patently false. The 716 is over a ten year period running until 2022.
3. The donut hole that exits in part D existed before the ACA was even passed legislation. The financial burden on patients reaching the donut hole was worse before the ACA. ACA mitigated the patient expense in the donut hole in many cases; not worsened it.
The positive things the ACA did for Medicare was
1. Increase reimbursements to Primary Care Providers and other front line providers.
2. Provide yearly, free general wellness physicals for all Medicare recipients
3. Provide yearly free testing and screening for major illnesses. Including mammograms, colonoscopies, and basic blood work.
Many more services, too numerous to mention.
Also, the jury is in on the numbers and the 25 states who expanded their Medicaid to 135% of the poverty level in accordance with the ACA, have increased coverage for their working poor by a factor of 4 and the hospitals and providers are showing a profit and are financially healthy.
Those 25 states who didn't are showing deep problems with their health providers and hospitals. Many hospitals are bleeding money and are being forced to merge or close. Their level of care is dramatically worse than states who did expand.
Gee- being in one of the specialties that experienced an approximate 50% cut in Medicare reimbursement as of Jan 1st , I can say you are dead wrong.
1. Primary care received E&M office visit increases
2. Orthopedics, physiatry, neurosurgery, psychiatry, cardiology and pain management received dramatic cuts for many procedures (E&M for psych)
3. As a result of #2, specialists in these fields have "rationed" Medicare visits. We have a two week wait for regular insurance and over a two month wait for Medicare.
If cutting Medicare $750 billion makes it so much "better", why not cut $1 trillion from Obamacare?
Gee- being in one of the specialties that experienced an approximate 50% cut in Medicare reimbursement as of Jan 1st , I can say you are dead wrong.
1. Primary care received E&M office visit increases
2. Orthopedics, physiatry, neurosurgery, psychiatry, cardiology and pain management received dramatic cuts for many procedures (E&M for psych)
3. As a result of #2, specialists in these fields have "rationed" Medicare visits. We have a two week wait for regular insurance and over a two month wait for Medicare.
If cutting Medicare $750 billion makes it so much "better", why not cut $1 trillion from Obamacare?
What he said and you agree, that primary care got raises.
Medicare 'rationing' is very local dependent. We have had no rationing where I live.
The $750B is an illusion and will never materialize. It is a projected figure based on projections. And you must already know how that goes. It will continue to be politics as always with Medicare spending moving forward. And as our country is aging, the writing on the wall should be very apparent.
What he said and you agree, that primary care got raises.
Medicare 'rationing' is very local dependent. We have had no rationing where I live.
The $750B is an illusion and will never materialize. It is a projected figure based on projections. And you must already know how that goes. It will continue to be politics as always with Medicare spending moving forward. And as our country is aging, the writing on the wall should be very apparent.
The $750 billion cuts are an illusion?
Well...................... I can tell you that the cuts in orthopedics, neurosurgery, psychiatry, physiatry, cardiology and pain management is not an illusion- it is reality. Our reimbursement for medicare per capita took a nosedive and we had to cut from 40% medicare patient load down to 5%. We are busy enough that I am quite full with regular insurance patients.
Is rationing regional? I can't say, as I only talk with other guys around the country at annual meetings. However, the cuts in reimbursement are NATIONAL. Our practice would go bankrupt if we now allowed open access for medicare patients, thus the need for rationing.
If you think that medicare reimbursement is going to INCREASE with $750 billion in cuts, then perhaps you probably believed and voted for Obama. Of course, anyone with an ounce of sense knows that cutting $750 billion will result in reduced access and services.
Again, if $750 billion in cuts to medicare are so good, why not cut $1 trillion from Obamacare and make it fantastic?
I have noted a disturbing trend among our medicare patients. Obamacare heisted $750 billion from medicare, which made necessary cuts in payments for medicare patients, in order to make Obamacare "practical" (assuming young people signed up as well). This trend has been reflected in offices of other specialists as well (my father -an Obama supporter- now has to wait 4 months for a cardiology appointment that previously has a three week wait). We are finding it very difficult to obtain total hip and knee replacements for our medicare patients (previously there was no problem). Reimbursement, of course, for total joints was markedly reduced as of Jan 1st.
The cuts in medicare payments to providers and hospitals mainly involved specialists and many procedures- primary care visits actually experienced a small increase in reimbursement.
As a result of payment to specialists (50% for us), we have had to limit medicare slots for patients, or experience insolvency, due to fixed overhead payments. Our "wait time" for someone with regular insurance is one to two weeks; the same "wait time" for medicare patient is 3 months. Medicare patients, of course, are upset about delays. However, Obama promised such delays and cuts in medicare programs; many senior democrats, however, ignored Obama's warnings and voted for him into a second term.
Were seniors really this ignorant and misinformed? Did they believe that their votes would have no consequences for THEM and only other people?
Take home message- one does not improve the quality of care and access for patients by reducing $750 billion of support. If this was true, we could simply cut Obamacare funding $1 trillion and "make it better"!
Don't be an idiot when you vote.
It also effected home care negatively. We are going through this now with my mother who needs around the clock supervision while she recovers. The nurses who make short visits are telling us that there are major changes and cutbacks because of Obamacare.
They do tell us if she is considered poverty level we could get a lot of help.
Seniors have been indoctrinated into the Fairy Tale that AARP always has their best interests at heart.
They failed to understand that AARP is "Big Business" that only cares about their Corporate Bottom Line, which is Selling Insurance. They are much like the rest of the Country that believed the LIES of "You can Keep your Insurance", "You can keep your Doctor". They ignored the figures and ignored the back room Deals that made it clear that ObamaCare was only going to be good for the Big Business that cut the Deals with the Leftists.
My Mom has been lying in bed now for months with a collapsing Aorta, while she is on a Waiting List for everything - Cardiologists, required 2nd Opinion of another Cardiologist, waiting for the Panel to rule on her stint to keep her alive. Waiting on an opening date for the Hospital. Test after Test after Test - buckets of money to the Doctors who keep ordering the same Tests. Buckets of Money to the "Medicare funded group that comes by twice a week to take her blood pressure and make sure her oxygen tank is working. It's all such a scam.
She voted for Obama, probably twice ... those nice young people that came to her Senior Center to "help" her vote. It doesn't matter now whether the Seniors (and others) were "ignorant" and "uninformed" - what really matters at this point is whether she can get the urgent care she needs or not.
"Not" means she dies. Heavy price to pay for a "vote".
Both my parents are medicare patients and they haven't had any problem at all.
What he said and you agree, that primary care got raises.
Medicare 'rationing' is very local dependent. We have had no rationing where I live.
The $750B is an illusion and will never materialize. It is a projected figure based on projections. And you must already know how that goes. It will continue to be politics as always with Medicare spending moving forward. And as our country is aging, the writing on the wall should be very apparent.
Glad I dont have a land line phone this year. In 2010 I received robocalls almost daily from different Republican groups complaining about $520 billion in cuts. In 2012 Republicans raised it to $700 billion in cuts. Paul Ryan and the Republicans will keep the cuts. They will use the cuts to reduce the deficit rather than spending the savings on low income health care. Both parties have talked about means testing Medicare. But both sides will have to hold hands and jump off the bridge at the same time. Other wise one side will try to get an edge.
I'm a heart patient. I recently changed cardiologists (within the same network). I saw my new doctor within a couple of weeks of first calling. He scheduled a stress test for about a month later, then within a couple of weeks of the stress test, scheduled a heart cath. My appointment with him for the cath results were 2 weeks later.
So...........within a couple of months I saw my new doctor, had 2 major tests, had a face-to-face for the results, and was done.
My only complaint is that I think doctors are scheduling unnecessary tests because they know Medicare will pay. But the entire process was fast enough, and had the cath showed an emergency, they would have done it while I was under anesthesia for the cath. Otherwise, had I needed a stent or anything somewhat minor, I would have had to go back for that.
This was all within the last couple of months. The cath was about a month ago.
That said, I hate 0bamacare, but I have to say as a Medicare patient, I haven't noticed anything bad. My complaint is strictly what I consider unnecessary crap, which has nothing to do with Medicare.
Maybe I've just been lucky.
P.S. I wouldn't touch AARP with a 10' pole. Now that's an organization that is downright evil! And I DO NOT have supplemental insurance. That is pure SCAM!
You mentioned that your doctor is "in network," which means you are not covered by traditional Medicare. Instead. you have an "advantage plan" and your medicare benefits are managed by an insurance company. You DO have supplemental insurance - it is included in your Medicare Advantage policy.
I chose to stay with traditional Medicare and purchased supplemental insurance (Medigap policy) to cover the 20% of medical costs that Medicare does not cover.
We both are supplemented. FWIW, because you are in an advantage plan, you are getting a bigger share of Medicare funds than I am and, as a matter of fact, my Part B premium actually partially funds your supplemental care.
Quote:
In 2009, payments to M.A. [Medicare Advantage] plans continue to exceed what Medicare would spend for similar beneficiaries in F.F.S [traditional Medicare]. M.A. payments per enrollee are projected to be 114 percent of comparable F.F.S. spending in 2009, compared with 113 percent in 2008. This added cost contributes to the worsening long-range financial sustainability of the Medicare program. … In aggregate, enhanced benefits [offered by the M.A. plans] are funded by the taxpayers and all beneficiaries (whether they belong to M.A. plans or not), rather than being funded through savings achieved as a result of plan cost efficiencies. In addition, a portion of the value of enhanced benefits consists of funds for plan administration and profits and not direct health care services for beneficiaries. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/20...ype=blogs&_r=0
Medicare Advantage plans are not "private" insurance in the same sense as Supplemental Insurance is.
Advantage plans are contracted with the government and cover ONLY the services that Medicare covers, in some cases paying a little more (or a little less) that straight Medicare coverage would be.
The 'donut hole' is a serious financial concern for those people who depend on prescription drugs for chronic illness.
The "doughnut hole" applies only to Part D coverage (prescription plans).
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It doesn't matter now whether the Seniors (and others) were "ignorant" and "uninformed" - what really matters at this point is whether she can get the urgent care she needs or not.
