Bye, bye, Medicare Advantage programs.... don't let the door hit you on the way out!
"Obama's budget request would create "running room for health reform," the official said, by reducing spending on some health programs so the administration would have money to devote to initiatives to expand coverage. The biggest target is bonus payments to insurance companies that run managed-care programs under Medicare, known as Medicare Advantage.
The Bush-era program has attracted nearly a quarter of Medicare beneficiaries to private health insurance plans that cover a package of services such as doctor visits, prescription drugs and eyeglasses. But the government pays the plans 13 percent to 17 percent more than it pays for traditional fee-for-service coverage, according to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, which advises Congress on Medicare financing issues.
Officials also are debating whether to permit people as young as 55 to purchase coverage through Medicare. That age group is particularly vulnerable in today's weakened economy, as many have lost jobs or seen insurance premiums rise rapidly. The cost would depend on whether recipients received a discount or were required to pay the full price."
I think many readers still remember the "sales pitch" given to the STRS Board in December by "consultants" that STRS (translated=we) paid to present a "study" of conventional Medicare vs. Medicare Advantage programs. Well, that decision is pretty well determined at this point, isn't it?
John
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is putting the finishing touches on an ambitious first budget that seeks to cut the federal deficit in half in the next four years, primarily by raising taxes on businesses and the wealthy and by slashing spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, administration officials said.
In addition to tackling a deficit swollen by the $787 billion stimulus package and other efforts to ease the nation's economic crisis, the budget blueprint will press aggressively for progress on the domestic agenda Obama outlined during the presidential campaign. This would include key changes to environmental policies and a major expansion of health coverage that he hopes to enact later this year.
A summary of Obama's budget request for the fiscal year that begins in October will be delivered to Congress on Thursday, with the complete document of several hundred pages to follow in April. But Obama plans to unveil his goals for scaling back record deficits and rebuilding the nation's costly and inefficient health care system Monday, when he addresses lawmakers and budget experts at a White House summit on restoring "fiscal responsibility" to Washington.
Even before Congress approved the stimulus package this month, congressional budget analysts forecast that this year's deficit would approach $1.2 trillion — 8.3 percent of the overall economy, the highest since World War II. With the stimulus and other expenses,
posted by Kathie Bracy at 7:24 AM
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