Medicare

Armand Biroonak's picture

CAF STAFF

Price Negotiations Can Save Medicare Billions

Submitted by Armand Biroonak
August 11th, 2008

If Medicare were allowed to negotiate drug prices with manufacturers, the program would save approximately $90 billion a year, which could be passed along to the elderly in the form of lower costs or greater benefits.

Source
Center for Economic and Policy Research
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Isaiah J. Poole's picture

CAF STAFF

Obstruction Boosts Insurance Fat Cats

By Isaiah J. Poole
June 26th, 2008

Senate conservatives went into their customary obstruction mode again late Thursday, choosing to protect the interests of insurance companies while shortchanging the health care needs of older Americans and ignoring the will of the majority. more »

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Alex Carter's picture

CAF STAFF

Feds Try to Cut Costs of Hospital Errors

From chron.com
April 16th, 2008
Related Topics:
Submitted by Alex Carter

chron.com — Federal health officials on Monday proposed adding dangerous blood clots in the leg and eight other conditions to the list of complications that Medicare won't pay to treat if they were acquired at the hospital.

Read Full Article »

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Tula Connell's picture

Colombia Trade Deal Is Derailed. Let's Keep It Off the Tracks

By Tula Connell
April 15th, 2008

In August 2004, Hector Alino Martinez and three other Colombian trade unionists were dragged out of their homes and assassinated in the streets of Caño Seco. The men were among 96 unionists killed in Colombia that year. more »

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Robert Dorst2's picture

Medicare becoming more cost-efficient

Submitted by Robert Dorst2 (not verified)
April 14th, 2008

Medicare cost savings rose to $1.2 billion in 2006 from $136 million in 2001

Source
"Fewer Heart Attacks and Related Hospital Admissions Offset Rising Medicare Costs" PR-USA.net, 10 April 2008. http://www.pr-usa.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=96792&Itemid=9
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Robert Dorst2's picture

Pharmacy Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Contributes to High Costs for Medicare Part D

Submitted by Robert Dorst2 (not verified)
April 11th, 2008

Approximately 1 percent of prescription costs are likely due to fraud, waste, or abuse. This amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars in unnecessary costs for the Medicare Part D program and its beneficiaries.

Source
“Prompt Payment” Mandates Would Raise Costs Due to Pharmacy Fraud, Waste, and Abuse" Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, April 2008. http://www.pcmanet.org/assets/2008-04-10_Research_FINAL%20Fraud%20Detection%20Survey%20Findings%20April%202008.pdf
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Robert Dorst2's picture

Medicare is a large part of physicians' revenue

Submitted by Robert Dorst2 (not verified)
April 10th, 2008

Medicare made up 22 percent of physicians’ revenue in 2006.

Source
"Census Report: Insurance Pays for Most Healthcare," Chiropractic Economics Magazine, December 2007. http://www.chiroeco.com/news/chiropractic-news.php?id=72&catid=52&title=Census%20report:%20Insurance%20pays%20for%20most%20healthcare
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Robert Dorst2's picture

Medicare out-of-pocket Costs Increase

Submitted by Robert Dorst2 (not verified)
April 8th, 2008

Medicare beneficiaries will pay more out of pocket for their prescription drugs next year. The Part D standard benefit deductible will increase from $275 to $295 and the initial coverage limit — the threshold amount shared by the insurance company and the beneficiary — will increase from $2,510 to $2,700.

Source
Larry Lipman, "Part D thresholds increase for 2009," Austin American-Statesman, 8 April 2008. http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/washington/medicare_monitor/entries/2008/04/08/part_d_thresholds_increase_for.html
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Eric Lotke's picture

CAF STAFF

New GAO Report: Extra subsidy makes private Medicare Advantage more expensive than traditional Medicare

Submitted by Eric Lotke
March 12th, 2008

The GAO reports that Medicare spends more per beneficiary in private Medicare Advantage plans than it does for beneficiaries in the original Medicare program - a projected $54 billion more from 2009 to 2012. more »

Source
U.S. Government Accountability Office, "MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: Higher Spending Relative to Medicare Fee-for-Service May Not Ensure Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs for Beneficiaries." February 28, 2008. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08522t.pdf
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Fight Back Against Medicare and Medicaid Cuts

CONservative Spin:

“Government spending on Medicare and Medicaid is spiraling our of control, and the best way to address that problem in the fiscal 2009 budget is to restrict federal payments doctors and hospitals, but leave programs like Medicare Advantage, which subsidizes private insurance companies, untouched.”
Isaiah J. Poole's picture

CAF STAFF

PROgressive Response:

By Isaiah J. Poole
January 31st, 2008
Related Topics:

Cuts in payments to doctors and hospitals will only worsen the underfunding of our medical infrastructure and increase disincentives for doctors to care for Medicare and Medicaid patients. What's really needed is reform: Our country's current health care system wastes hundreds of billions of dollars in administrative and advertising expenses, and in efforts to shift or deny payment. Medicare's administrative costs are up to four times less than those of the private insurance companies subsidized by Medicare Advantage. Congress should resist the Bush administration's cost-cutting proposals and instead set the stage for real reform of our health care system.

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