PUBLIC VIEWPOINT: Medicare Needs Problem-Solvers
Posted: September 20, 2012 at 4:57 a.m.
I have a friend that is on Medicare. He recently had a medical condition requiring a specialist. He found out quickly that there are very few medical specialists in Northwest Arkansas who will take new Medicare patients. If you are on Medicare and do not have a relationship with a medical group, it is very likely that you will not get the medical care you require. The reason these clinics will not take new Medicare patients is that the reimbursement is so low with Medicare that they cannot make a profi t.
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Opinion, Pages 5 on 09/20/2012
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>>This is very understandable but also very troubling at a time when Medicare is going broke<<.
That was the case. It no longer is. For decades wealthy people who took their incomes from rents, interest and dividend income paid nothing into Medicare. However, the same non-paying individuals were eligible when they reached 65.
Affordable Health Care Act changed that.
.Now there is a Medicare tax on incomes derived from previously non-taxed sources.
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Additionally, we cannot afford the old Bush-Republican plans of Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D. Both HAD NO FUNDING PROVISION.
Together those two Republican plans added over 700 Billion to the federal deficit over 10 years. If you don't know how they work then please find out. It amounts to a direct government subsidy to Big Insurance and Big Pharma. Republicans really "fixed" Medicare so later they could claim it's going broke and we need to get rid of it with Ryan's proposed Coupon-Care.
,
I use the plain, old Medicare, a single payer program which requires I pay 20% and the insurer pays 80% for limited treatment plans. Plus, I paid in for 43 yrs to Medicare. Since becoming eligible I pay in about $100 per month. Now, a bit more.
Reforming purchase of pharmaceuticals would save countless billions. Most health issues for most seniors consist of pharmaceutical treatment whether it's heart-circulatiory, skeletal, respiratory,muscular or digestive problems.
Lowering medicine bills is must if any program is to succeed.
Big Pharma has more lobbyists per Congressman than any other special interest group in Washington, D.C. so it's going to take some politicians who haven't been bought off by Big Pharma to make needed changes.
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Looking into the monthly medication I use for respiratory treatment was revealing. It sells for $244 per month, the company outsources production to Mexico where it costs them $15 to produce the monthly dosage. Medicare pays about $228 for the drug. Of that I pay about $44.
Other nations with national health care plans get the same medicine for much less because they bargain for pharmaceuticals with individual companies. Because of our self-dealing politicians we are forced to pay much more.
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Posted by: cdawg
September 20, 2012 at 4:22 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
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