Largest Premium Increase For Medicare- $11.60 to $78.20

[Guest guest]

Now consider how they want to significantly reduce, or even

eliminate, our access to alternative medicine like vitamins and

supplements via CODEX... What type of monopoly will they have

then? Can you imagine how much medical services will cost?

Other comments?

Misty L. Trepke

http://www..com

 

Federal officials announced the largest premium increase in

dollars in the Medicare program's history, from $11.60 to $78.20.

 

WOW! What a tax increase! Considering what Medicare will NOT pay

for, and how hard it is to get physicians paid, which is why so many

refuse to bill Medicare, this is really a huge taxation bonus for

the gvmt.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/04/politics/04health.html

 

September 4, 2004

Citing Higher Costs, U.S. Plans Record Rise in Medicare Premium

By GARDINER HARRIS

 

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3 - A day after President Bush heralded his

efforts to help the elderly cope with increased medical expenses,

federal officials announced the largest premium increase in dollars

in the Medicare program's history, raising the monthly expense by

$11.60 to $78.20.

 

The increase, which amounts to 17 percent, results largely from

increased payments to doctors and reflects rising medical expenses

generally, officials said. The rise has nothing to do with a program

that will start in 2006 to offer prescription drugs, for

which beneficiaries must pay a separate premium.

 

The increase immediately became grist for an increasingly

contentious presidential campaign. Phil Singer, a spokesman for the

Kerry campaign, released a statement saying, " After doing nothing

about the record increases in the cost of health care over the

last four years, George Bush is presiding over a Medicare system

that is socking seniors with the largest premium hike in the

program's 40-year history. "

 

Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush campaign, said

that " President Bush has worked to increase health care access and

affordability, including guaranteeing Medicare recipients

prescription drugs. "

 

Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator of the Medicare program, said in

an interview that the elderly were receiving improved benefits now

and would l have lower out-of-pocket expenses when the new drug

benefit began in 2006. Dr. McClellan pointed out that Medicare

recently instituted a " Welcome to Medicare " physical and screening

program, giving the elderly more for their money.

 

When Dr. McClellan's predecessor, Thomas A. Scully, announced last

year's 14-percent premium increase, he said the increase

demonstrated that Congress should give private health plans a larger

role in Medicare. Through such private plans, Mr. Scully said,

beneficiaries " would have access to lower premiums and lower costs. "

 

Dr. McClellan acknowledged that about $1.75 of this year's $11.60

premium increase results from the billions of dollars Medicare is

paying insurers to encourage them to offer private plans. Many in

Congress refused last year to support the new Medicare drug benefit

legislation unless the program did more to lure patients into such

private plans.

 

As Medicare cut costs in recent years, many private health insurers

bowed out of the program, leading the number of beneficiaries in

private plans to drop to 4.6 million last year, or 11 percent of the

beneficiaries, from 6.3 million, or 16 percent of beneficiaries, in

1999. With higher administrative costs, private plans are generally

more costly than regular Medicare and thus need subsidies to provide

services.

 

Dr. McClellan pointed out that private plans often offer additional

benefits, including prescription drugs, more preventive care and

even dental and vision care. Copayments in the private plans are

often lower, he said.

 

By law, the federal Medicare program picks up the cost of about 75

percent of the Part B Medicare program, which pays for physician

services, hospital outpatient care and medical equipment. Premiums

pay for the remaining 25 percent. A significant part of the

increased premium announced on Friday will also go to bolster the

Medicare trust fund, a short-term reserve used to pay benefits, Dr.

McClellan said.

 

Most beneficiaries pay their Medicare premiums through deductions

from their Social Security checks. In years past, the premium

increases have been announced in October at the same time that cost-

of-living increases to Social Security checks are announced. The twin

announcements allow the elderly to calculate how much they will be

receiving the following year.

 

Dr. McClellan said politics played no role in the decision to

announce the increase late Friday afternoon, just as much of

official Washington was heading out for a three-day weekend and the

Republican convention and a hurricane moving toward Florida were

dominating the news. He said he simply wanted to make the

announcement as soon as he had the information.

 

Representative Pete Stark, Democrat of California, scoffed at Dr.

McClellan's explanation for the announcement's timing and

said, " This is a cynical attempt to bury bad news by leaking it out

when you hope no one is watching. "

 

Robert Hayes, the president of the Medicare Rights Center, an

advocacy group, said the premium increase would be a " body blow " to

the elderly and resulted from " profligate management of Medicare. "

 

Medical costs have been rising faster than inflation for more than a

decade, reflecting innovations and better care for patients.

Medicare is not immune to such increases, although program

administrators have long tried to slow such increases with measures

that often amount to price controls. These controls have so enraged

many health care providers that they appeal directly to Congress,

where doctor groups and others have sought more money for

treatments. Such appeals led Congress last year to roll back

expected cuts in many payments to doctors and instead to order that

such payments increase 1.5 percent, an important reason for this

year's premium increase.

 

The latest group to make such an appeal is cancer doctors, who say

Medicare will soon sharply reduce payments to them under a new

system that changes the way Medicare pays for cancer drugs. Some

oncologists have threatened to reduce services to patients or give

them older, more toxic therapies unless Congress increases payments

to them.

 

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

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