By Joe Paduda, ripped off by John Ballard
There's going to be a LOT coming out in the next two months about Medicare, so it may help to know a few things about the program to help put it in context.
- We spent over a half-trillion dollars on Medicare in 2010.
- That's fifteen percent of total Federal expenditures.
- 48 million people were covered in 2010.
- The health reform bill (aka the PPACA of 2010) is credited with reducing Medicare costs by by $424 billion (net ten-year savings) over the next ten years, certainly a step in the right direction.
- That equates to a 3.5% annual growth rate
- almost two full points lower than projected per-capita growth in private health insurance spend.
- Despite those reductions, costs will get to within whispering distance of a trillion dollars in ten years.
- All those reductions don't come without pain. In fact, Medicare's Office of the Actuary projects Medicare reimbursement rates will be lower than Medicaid's...a result that may well lead to providers abandoning the system.
- Some of that pain may start January 1st, when physician reimbursement is slated for a 29.4% across-the-board cut.
Most doctors I know are arch-Conservative, Republican/Tea-party types.
I had to find a new PCP a year ago because the place where I had been going played the Fox channel all day in at least four or five waiting areas. And Tom Price is the Representative from my House district.
So I see poetic justice that the "Doc Fix" is gonna finally kick in after all these years (last bullet point above) and a bunch of GOP members have Taken the Pledge and can't intervene. The problem started under a Republican administation and it's now about to bite them in the ass years later.
No comments:
Post a Comment