So, Medicare isn’t exactly a spicy topic, but it’s something that you need to know about. Even if Medicare doesn’t affect you right now, I am sure it affects someone you know. Today, Medicare covers over 66 million Americans, and it was officially signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson on July 30, 1965.
If you have grandparents or aging parents, Medicare is something you might be more familiar with. Most people associate Medicare with health coverage for those 65 years of age or greater, but it also includes people under 65 with certain disabilities and people of all ages with End-Stage Kidney Disease. The Medicare program of today consists of four parts: Hospital Insurance (Part A), Supplementary Medical Insurance (Part B), Medicare Advantage (Part C), and Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit (Part D).
Medicare has gotten a lot of attention lately due to cuts in funding and how it affects physician practices. How, you ask? If you think about it, physician practices run like a business. A practice must pay for rent, utilities, supplies, staff, etc. A practice covers these costs through payments from Medicare and private insurance, but if those payments continue to go down while the cost of supplies, staff, rent, etc., goes up (what we call inflation), then you’ve got a problem. The solution is that Medicare reimbursement should increase to account for the rising cost of supplies each year, but it hasn’t.
Due to the continuous cuts, some physicians have been forced to close their offices or cut back on services or staff. As a result, many patients have lost their doctor or have reduced access to care. Some private practices have stopped accepting Medicare patients altogether and turned to a self-pay or cash model to survive. Physicians have been working to get legislators to understand the impact Medicare cuts have had on their patients and practices, but Congress has failed to act and stop the cuts.
Trotter’s Take: Medicare is something we should all care about and urge Congress to stop the Medicare cuts and make patients and quality care a priority.
Want to learn more? Join in on my podcast with Dr. Andy Weinstein and Dr. Brad Glick as we talk about Medicare and the need for action now.
