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.Medicare Web Resources
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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:
Financed by a 2.9 percent payroll tax divided equally between employees and employers.
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.
Financed by Medicare and beneficiary premiums, which vary among plans.
The plans are private and financed by Medicare and beneficiary premiums, which vary among plans.
-- Larry Lipman
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Home > Medicare Monitor > Archives > 2007 > December > 18 > Entry
Six-month doctor pay fix advances
Two weeks before doctors are scheduled to get a nearly 10 percent pay cut from Medicare, Congress appeared on the verge of giving them a 0.5 percent raise for six months.
The increase is part of a bill that could see Senate approval tonight that would provide a temporary fix for the scheduled physician pay cut and extend the popular State Children’s Health Insurance Program through March 2009.
To pay for the pay raise for doctors, the plan would cut some payments to private Medicare Advantage managed care plans in fiscal 2012. That’s a way for Congress to juggle the books now and not have to face up to the consequences immediately.
David SloaneAARP’s director of government relations, called the Medicare bill “woefully inadequate.”
“Enactment of this legislation does little to protect millions of Medicare beneficiaries from higher monthly premiums and only temporarily averts the problems beneficiaries would face finding a physician if payment cuts take place,” Sloane said.
“The American people deserve better. It is a shame that our elected officials will go home for the holidays without helping low-income beneficiaries get the care they need by strengthening programs directly targeted at the most vulnerable older Americans.
“It also is discouraging to millions of older Americans that the administration was unwilling to consider any reductions in the billions of dollars in excess payments to Medicare Advantage plans -— particularly to private fee-for-service plans, which do not have to coordinate care and have been the subject of widespread marketing abuses -— in order to help improve Medicare.”
Barbara B. Kennelly, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, called the bill “a true disappointment to millions of seniors tired of paying more in premiums so that insurers offering private Medicare Advantage plans can keep their billions in government subsidies.
“While everyone in Washington talks about fiscal discipline, the president’s veto threat with support from his allies in Congress, shows the influence of the insurance lobby once again ruled the day.”
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