Two years ago, President Obama signed the Affordable Care Act. The President's health care law gives hard working, middle-class families security, makes Medicare stronger, and puts more money back in seniors' pockets.
Prior to 2011, people on Medicare faced paying for preventive benefits like cancer screenings and cholesterol checks out of their own pockets. Now, these benefits are offered free of charge to beneficiaries.
Over time, the health reform law also closes the gap in prescription drug coverage, known as the "donut hole." This helps seniors like Helen Rayon: "I am a grandmother who is trying to assist a grandson with his education. I take seven different medications. Getting the donut hole closed, that gives me a little more money in my pocket."
In 2010, those who hit the donut hole received a $250 rebate - with almost 4 million seniors and people with disabilities receiving a collective $1 billion. In 2011, people on Medicare automatically received a 50 percent discount on brand-name drugs in the donut hole. Over 3.6 million beneficiaries received more than $2.1 billion in savings - averaging $604 per person last year.
And today, we have more good news. Even more seniors and people with disabilities on Medicare have benefited from these important measures:
These new benefits will strengthen over time. In the coming years, the automatic discount on drugs in the donut hole will expand, and by 2020 the donut hole will be closed completely. And Medicare is growing stronger in other ways as well. Doctors and hospitals are beginning to receive new incentives to provide better care to patients, reducing infections that patients receive in the hospital, improving patient safety and lowering costs. The new law also invests more resources in fighting Medicare fraud, to protect the trust fund, and keep Medicare secure for longer.
Thanks to the Affordable Care Act, seniors and people with disabilities are enjoying a Medicare program that is stronger and working better for Helen, and others all across the country.
For more by Sec. Kathleen Sebelius, click here.
For more on health care, click here.
Medicare premium support, long a bipartisan proposal, is the best alternative (http://1.usa.gov/xQJc3y). Premium support would guarantee better choices and broader access to quality care, faster innovation in care delivery, less waste and fraud in medical transactions, and superior cost control. For the next generation of taxpayers and retirees, there is no better option than premium support.
EntertheMedicareAdvantageQualityBonusPaymentDemonstrationprogram, an $8.3 billion slush fund created by the CenterforMedicare&MedicaidServices. this fund was designed to test how best to structure bonus incentives for insurers who provided better care. Instead, it is patching up politically damaging Medicare cuts. It will alleviate 71 percent of the Medicare Advantage cuts in 2012, and then the percentage plummets in the two years after the election to 32 percent and then 16 percent.
GAO concluded that "[t]he design of the demonstration precludes a credible evaluation of its effectiveness in achieving CMS's stated research goal." AccordingtotheGAO, the $8 billion bonus program "dwarfs all other Medicare demonstrations -- both mandatory and discretionary -- conducted since 1995." Askedb theGAOtoidentifyexactlywheretheygot this $8 billion from, the Obama administration failed to name any specific offsets and said the spending should be considered "inthecontextofotheradministrativeactionsintheMedicareprogram."
Obama's $8 billion Medicare Advantage slush fund is a blatant attempt to stave off seniors' disapproval with Obamacare's effects in an election year. When this temporary patch runs out, millions will be shocked by skyrocketing Medicare premiums and possibly also the deterioration of care. By that time, Obama will never have to face the voters again.
If you were a provider, what would you think? You can either take an appointment with a younger healthy person which takes 5 minutes of your time and pays $70, or you can take a 15 minute slot with an older person, which runs to 30+minutes because of their laundry list of complaints and medications, for $80 from medicare.
Yea, exactly.
What about the 82 MILLION households who didn't pay a penny of federal income tax last year?