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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All the entries posted on May 02, 2008.
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Home > Medicare Monitor > Archives > 2008 > May > 02
Friday, May 2, 2008
AARP: Don’t raise doctor pay on backs of beneficiaries
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.
“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.