Word: medicaid
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...theory, yes. Pressure must be applied to the overall Medicare program to bring down its costs. "Everybody 64 and younger is in some kind of HMO or managed-care network," says Gail Wilensky, who ran Medicare and Medicaid in the first Bush Administration. There's no reason to exempt seniors. The bill will set up a test program to have Medicare compete with private insurers in six metropolitan areas beginning in 2010. Republicans say seniors can opt to stay with Medicare, but Democrats complain that private firms will have the unfair advantage of a $12 billion subsidy and will...
...depends on whom you believe. Democrats like Senator Edward Kennedy say about 6 million of the poorest and sickest elderly receive better drug benefits under Medicaid, the state-administered federal program for the poor. Under the new Medicare plan, an elderly couple earning less than $16,362 will copay only $1 to $3 per prescription, and Kennedy has argued that even such a modest amount can be a burden. Ten states currently exempt their poorest seniors from paying for drugs at all. According to a report released by Kennedy's staff, these 6 million beneficiaries "will be worse off. Their...
Starting with Blue Cross in the 1930s ... private insurers have picked up a giant chunk of hospital-doctor bills. In 1965 Congress chipped in, providing Medicare payments for those over 65 and Medicaid assistance for the poor. There are still gaps in the coverage: the 20% or so of the bill that the typical Medicare patient must pay can be a severe burden; the long illness that exhausts inadequate insurance benefits is a terror to the middle class ... Unquestionably, this system has saved innumerable lives and improved the nation's health by encouraging people to seek medical care that they...
...comes as little surprise, given the sway of the industry’s lobbyists in Washington, but the payoff to contributors comes at the expense of seniors, who will continue to be stuck with high prices, even with government support. More than six million seniors will also lose their Medicaid drug coverage and will face the prospect of being stuck with higher co-payments or losing access to certain drugs that Medicare does not cover, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Universal health care is a tremendously worthwhile goal, and prescription drug benefits are a step...
...cuts were well structured depends crucially on your view of the sunset provisions. The way the tax law is written, many of the cuts come to an end, but suppose they were made permanent. If you look ahead 40 years, taking into account the growth in Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, we have the deficit at 4% of GDP. About 60% of that is due to the tax reductions of the first three years of this Administration...