Posts tagged 'medicare information'
Aside from war, the economy and taxes, Medicare is a glaring issue on the agenda of both Barak Obama and John McCain who are running for president. There has been a tremendous amount of information being tossed about,especially Medicare coverage and he costs related to them.
We have been carefully checking statements and information that both candidates have put out for the public. Even if the new president can successfully address the issues of war, the economy and taxes, as well as lost jobs and a budget that is a mess, one of the difficult issues that will still need to be dealt with is Medicare. Health care costs are rising rapidly and Baby Boomers are beginning to look at Medicare for coverage which will add to the number of people Medicare must cover.
John McCain has said that repairing the Medicare system will be extremely difficult. It will be more difficult to fix than reforming the Social Security System. He has also said that he wants to see changes in the Medicare system to pay providers for disease prevention and care coordination. If he becomes president he would also like to see a zero tolerance policy to deal with Medicare fraud and would not pay for preventable medical mistakes or mismanagement. He has said, “What we have to do with Medicare is have a commission – have the smartest people in America come together and come up with recommendations.”
Barak Obama, on the other hand, proposes a plan to increase Social Security taxes on people earning more than $250,000 per year. The change would not be immediate, but would take a decade or possibly more to implement. Obama feels that a program like this would keep the Social Security program stable and sound financially.
In addition, Barak Obama opposes proposals that would give a portion of Social Security money in personal investment accounts. This type of privatization is not a good idea. Obama does, however, want to reduce Medicare costs. He wants the federal government to be able to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies for lower, much more affordable prescription drug prices. He wants the “donut hole” in Medicare prescription coverage to be closed. Currently there is a coverage gap called the donut hole that leaves seniors very vulnerable by forcing them to pay for their prescriptions once they reach a certain limit. Often, this leaves vulnerable seniors on limited incomes to often pay out thousands of dollars that they cannot afford. As a result, many of these seniors are not able to afford their medications, so they just go without.
Obama has stated : "Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George Bush proposed it, and it is a bad idea today."
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have been providing information regarding Medicare for a long time. Most of the information is geared toward individuals who are Medicare beneficiaries
Though this information is essential, CMS has realized the importance of providing information for caregivers. They have designed a web page for this purpose. The web page, www.medicare.gov/caregivers, discusses accurate information regarding many aspects of Medicare including what the Medicare program covers, access to services and resources to help care for a beneficiary.
Many times caregivers are family or close friends, and though they save the Medicare system over $350 billion per year (figures from 2006), they often don’t think of themselves as “official” caregivers and, until now, have not had access to information and tools specifically designed to make their caregiving easier.
The new web page will help in many ways. A caregiver’s job is exhausting. There is a lot for a caregiver to learn about benefits. A caregiver must be a staunch advocate. To help with these and other responsibilities, which can be quite overwhelming, there are direct links to other organizations who can help the 4.4 million unpaid caregivers who are simply trying to find enough information to help their loved ones.
Some sections of the page include “Navigating Medicare”, “Help with Billing” and “Care Options.” For caregivers who are overwhelmed and need help or support themselves there is a section that lists various options for help. A newsletter will come out on a bi-monthly basis starting in November of 2008.
An essential part of the goal of this web page is to lighten the load for caregivers, making it easier to care for the people they love. If you are a caregiver – paid or unpaid – take the time to check into this new web page. You may find the support you are looking for to help your loved one and yourself.
Seniors enrolled in Medicare should receive Medicare information in the mail regarding their benefits in October. They should receive a letter and information telling them what they are covered for, what supplements they are enrolled in (if any) and any changes to their premiums and/or their coverage.
It is important to take the time to carefully read this information and make certain that you understand it. It will tell you what your 2009 premiums will be and will tell you what is covered, including prescriptions.
Prescription coverage will be very important to check over carefully. You could currently be covered for all of your medications, but there could be changes in coverage that might cover every medication except for one. This does not always happen, but it could.
In the event that one of your prescription medications is not covered it is important that you check with your doctor and see if there is an alternative or substitute prescription that would work in its place. Then you will have to check to see if the alternative or substitute medication is covered. If you can’t find a suitable alternative medication, you may have to check for a different supplement that will cover the medications you need.
Other things to consider are how much the premiums will increase, if any. Check to see if your co-pays will increase, as well. The more you know about your coverage, the better decisions you and your doctor will be able to make regarding your ongoing treatment.
The fact that this information is being sent to you in October gives you time to get the facts you need about your coverage before the open enrollment period for Medicare Part D, which is from November 15th through December 31st. That is the time during which you can switch plans if you need to, without any penalties for pre-existing conditions or other issues.
If you receive Medicare, be on the watch for your letter describing your current coverage in October. If you don’t receive it, call 1-800-MEDICARE. You can call the Seniors Health Insurance Information Program (SHIIP) at 1-800-443-9354 or check with them on the web at www.ncshiip.com. They are an organization that specifically helps seniors with insurance and Medicare questions and issues.
Medicare has been working to start making sure that hospitals deliver better results for their patients. They have been studying the numbers of readmissions, deaths and other outcomes in over 4,000 hospitals throughout the country. The studies are a precursor to rewarding hospitals for good performance by possibly offering bonuses versus paying hospitals at a lower rate if they need to improve their performance and outcomes.
The Medicare information released focuses on the number and percentage of patient deaths during or after a hospital stay or readmission. This monitoring is good news for patients because it has “encouraged” hospitals to improve services.
Some of the improvement measures that hospitals have reported using for better outcomes have been better monitoring, more careful use of catheters and other instruments that can create and spread infections, such as staph infections which can be fatal, better information to patients when they are about to be released, and better follow-up including phone calls to patients once they have gone home.
The hospitals that saw improvement in outcomes reported using many of these measures. The hospitals that did not fare quite as well agree that there is room for improvement, but they – and others – cite some inaccurate figures and results. For instance, in one hospital that had a high number of deaths from pneumonia, 60% of the patients in that group were over 80 years old, very frail and had other medical issues and complications.
In another group of patients at one particular hospital two-thirds of them actually died in nursing homes, and most of them contracted the pneumonia after they left the hospital. Another hospital reports that over 90% of the group of patients that died of pneumonia had a “Do Not Resuscitate” order which does not give an accurate picture of the hospital’s role in their death.
The results of this study are important to be aware of, and the fact that the study was done indicates that Medicare is looking at ways to help patients be safe and receive the best quality care possible. Even while the kinks are being worked out, care is improving for patients.
