Medicare Must Be Addressed Before U.S. Can Overhaul Health Care System, Opinion Piece States
According to the authors, "If the Wall Street crisis has taught us nothing else, it has shown there are financial limits -- even for America." They write, "Health care reform is a good and noble goal. But if we do only that -- without fundamentally redesigning the Medicare commitment -- our grandchildren will inherit a crushing financial burden." The authors state, "Medicare has led before and can do it again," asking, "Why hold Medicare reform hostage to a global 'fix' of health care?"
The authors recommend that the U.S. government:"Use Medicare to leverage wholesale change in reimbursement policies, encourage use of electronic medical records, and experiment with new health care delivery methods" and allow "competitive bidding on medical equipment for home-based seniors";
"Reduce the commitments we've made -- seriously, but fairly," such as by reducing Medicare Parts B and D premium subsidies for upper-income beneficiaries;
"Look for savings in Medicare payments," for example, by reducing Medicare Advantage payments; and
"Finally, put Medicare (and Social Security and Medicaid) on a budget, with automatic 'triggers' to make sure spending stays within budgeted amounts" (Bixby et al., Washington Times, 11/18). Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.
© 2008 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.
Medicare trebuie adresate Înainte SUA Pot revizia sistemului ocrotirii sãnãtãþii, Avizul Floare membre - Medicare Must Be Addressed Before U.S. Can Overhaul Health Care System, Opinion Piece States - articole medicale engleza - startsanatate