Medicare

The primary cause of the Mayo Clinic’s dropping Medicare is its fees, which are too low for physicians to pay the rent. Some have argued that the physicians have been “crying wolf” on this for years. Well, the wolf is at the door, as I wrote in a recent study ...

President Obama has repeatedly pledged never to sign any proposal that would “add one dime” to the federal deficit, yet he and Congress are finding it impossible to cover millions of uninsured Americans without increasing deficit spending or taking the money from the current Medicare system. Finding money to achieve ...

President Barack Obama has promised time and again that his health reforms won’t force Americans to change insurance plans if they like what they already have. He’s willing to break that promise. A key provision of the Democrats’ reform plan would cut benefits in the Medicare Advantage program by as ...

However, the government will undoubtedly be successful in driving private insurers out of the Medicare Advantage program, threatening about 11 million seniors’ access to this valuable alternative. The key difference between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare is that the latter operates according to a Soviet-style, centrally determined schedule of fees, ...

Medicare Advantage is an important alternative to traditional Medicare, which operates as a government monopoly. Seniors can choose among various plans provided by private health plans and select one that best suits their needs. In order to participate in the program, insurers submit bids to the government for the right ...

This report by John R. Graham, Director of Health Studies at Pacific Research Institute, examines the costs and benefits of Medicare Advantage, which allows consumers to get their benefits through private insurance plans. Under the Senate Health Care bill, the Medicare Advantage program, would be cut by about $118 billion. ...

Sphere (AOL News), December 9, 2009 (Dec. 9) — Senate leaders are knee-deep in negotiations over the final version of their health care reform bill. Public outcry – and fear of losing the support of wavering centrists – has forced Democratic chieftains to jettison the controversial “public option.” In its ...

While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...

Medicare Advantage, in which about one-quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled, is a program that subsidizes beneficiaries’ access to private health insurance. The Pacific Research Institute will shortly publish Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly? a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of this program for Medicare beneficiaries and ...