Blog: Don't Kid Yourself, Medicare Reform Affects Everyone

The Congressional Budget Office reported on June 22 that the federal debt is related to the increase explosion in spending for Social Security, Medicare and Medical Assistance.   Really? There is more spending for senior benefits in America, who saw that coming?  Where has the congressional budget office been living if they didn’t know that the baby boomers are now reaching retirement age and there is on average of 10,000 Americans reaching age 65 each day?  These same individuals have been paying into the system since their first day of work for benefits that they were guaranteed would be available for them when they reached retirement.  Now the senate is worried about this, what ever happened to planning for the future?

As senate scurries to reduce federal spending, bills are coming forward that impact the Medicare programs.  A recent proposal is the Medicare Reform Bill submitted by Senators Lieberman (I-CT) and Coburn (R-OK) which  will impact the most needy and vulnerable citizens in our country.  The bill includes instituting a 20 percent copay with an annual minimal out of pocket cap starting at $7500. The out of pocket cap will be based on income levels.  They also are recommending increasing the eligibility age over a period of several years to max out at age 67 instead of the current 65. 

How will this impact the senior population?  A study done by Avalere Health (www.avalerehealth.net) found that  83 percent of Medicare participants do not have Medigap insurance to help cover the copayment/deductibles that are being proposed by the Medicare Reform Bill.  These seniors are among the sickest population and have multiple chronic diseases.  The study further showed that when managed Medicare programs increased their co-pays, the patients used less outpatient visits including physician visits, wellness screenings and home health services.  This led to 2.2 more hospital admissions and 13 more inpatient hospital days per 100 enrollees.  Services such as home health have been found to reduce admissions to hospitals at a cost savings of $670 million dollars.  Yet by implementing a copayment that many seniors can not afford, this service that saves Medicare dollars will be out of reach for many seniors.

So why should you care what the retirement age may be 20 to 30 years from now?  Look around you, at your family or your community, how many seniors do you see that may not be able to access health care because they can’t afford the co-payments on a plan that they have been paying into for years.  How will these individuals live their golden years?  I support health care reform-- but not at the cost to the most vulnerable population.