MM: Deductibles should be combined. People pay a separate deductible for physician and outpatient care and a very high deductible for hospital services, now over $1,000 a year. Coinsurance amounts are confusing and vary by type of service. Until you simplify the basic structure so that people don’t feel it’s necessary to buy supplemental coverage, Medicare will continue to place a financial burden on beneficiaries and their families.
TL: How will that make the system more understandable?
MM: If people know that they have one deductible, say $350, and modest coinsurance up to a limit of perhaps $4000 they would pay out of pocket, then they can decide whether they want supplemental coverage. That would help them decide how much added protection they need, and at what cost.
TL: Is anyone talking about those kinds of reforms?
MM: Almost no one is. But when health reform discussions begin about what a basic benefit package would look like for younger families, it will become obvious that Medicare is lagging behind, and politicians will take notice.
TL: How is Medicare in trouble financially?
MM: The program actuaries projected that the hospital trust fund, which pays for hospital benefits, will be out of money by 2019. With the downturn in the economy, that date is likely to move up by several years when new projections are issued this spring. Payroll taxes, which now fund those benefits, will be too low to pay for all the care people will need, causing a shortfall. To keep hospital benefits people have now, the trust fund needs new revenue. The other trust fund that pays for doctor visits, lab tests, and outpatient care is required by law to be adequately funded. It is financed by general tax revenues and premiums paid by beneficiaries, which automatically increase to keep the trust fund solvent.
TL: What’s causing the money shortfall in the hospital trust fund?
MM: On the outgo side, the aging of the population contributes to the problem, but less so than the fact that health care spending has risen much faster than the general growth of the economy. This high rate of spending growth has been going on for some time. On the revenue side, there has been no adjustment in the payroll tax rate since the 1980s. The weak economy will make this problem even worse for the next few years.
TL: What fixes are being talked about to solve this problem?
MM: The talk has mostly been about cutting payments to Medicare Advantage plans and reducing payments to hospitals.
TL: Will that be enough?
MM: No. The system will still need new money. Over the long run, you need to change the way health care is delivered, and it will be quite a while before spending slows, even if some of the “fixes” people discuss are successful. Until we pump additional revenues into Medicare and find a way to dramatically slow the growth of spending, this problem will not go away. We just delay fixing it.
TL: Why?
MM: There are no easy solutions. Either taxpayers or beneficiaries pay more, or providers of care get paid less or do less. Most groups hate at least one of the options, so there’s really no consensus.
TL: Why hasn’t Medicare been able to control rising health care costs?
MM: No one has really solved the cost containment problem in this country, but Medicare has done as well as any other effort. Rising costs are not a Medicare problem but a health system problem. We have not been willing to make sure we are getting value for the dollars we spend. We have not been spending money wisely. Until everyone—providers, patients, and others who have a stake in manufacturing drugs, devices, new treatments—becomes realistic in what the system will bear, we are not going to see any reduction in the growth of health care spending.
TL: Are administrative costs of Medicare part of the problem?
MM: Medicare’s administrative expenses run about 2 percent, compared to 10 to 25 percent for private insurance companies.
TL: Is paying providers based on the quality of care they deliver likely to solve the financial distress?
I went on Medicare in March after 30 yrs as a self-employed person scratching up insurance. If this admin gets "universal health care" or makes changes, will I still have Medicare or will I be in the same boat as everyone else--trying to find insurance and pay for it?
#1 Posted by Star, CJR on Thu 9 Apr 2009 at 11:00 AM
Among gamers of the system, suppliers of home medical equipment (special beds and the like) need to cited.
In my own experience, taking care of an ill parent living with me, vendors would charge and be reimbursed by Medicare for items at a rate 4 and 5 times the cost they would charge me if I bought the item in person for cash.
I wonder what the annual costs to Medicare are for vendors. There needs to be a realistic "fair and customary" price index for them, as there is for physicians' fees.
#2 Posted by Jane, CJR on Thu 9 Apr 2009 at 06:05 PM
Two industries which do not have a shortfall, and in fact are thriving on the very conditions that are sapping Medicare's trust funds, are this country's health insurance and pharmaceutical industries.
If the "rising costs of healthcare," are the source of our problems, especially in this downward economy, these industries are far and away the primary cause. It is futile to look for solutions to Medicare without regulating these industries.
The health insurance industry currently occupies an Entitled position in our economy. True entitlement reform would be Health Insurance industry Reform.
#3 Posted by Jane, CJR on Thu 9 Apr 2009 at 06:30 PM
In response to Star: I do not believe there will be many changes to the Medicare program that should cause you concern. It will likely stay pretty much as is, but hopefully with some modest improvements in the benefits offered.
#4 Posted by Marilyn Moon, CJR on Fri 10 Apr 2009 at 11:14 AM