Reducing Medicare eligibility to age 60

[MillCreek]

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/11/11/933522346/biden-wants-to-lower-medicare-eligibility-age-to-60-but-hospitals-push-back?utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR1bUwBmq87NS91lb7OrV3F8glCoWm6ybHUGVyMDBhwstNRpFya6JLWZtWY

On the one hand, speaking as someone who turns 61 in January, I could retire tomorrow if I had Medicare.  On the other hand, speaking as someone who works in healthcare, I agree that it would be a major revenue hit to the healthcare system unless Medicare increased their reimbursement rate.  I also worry about the country affording the Medicare expansion.

[BobR]

That's all they need, a new group of thousands upon thousands using Medicare and the hospitals/physician offices being stuck with their dismal reimbursement rates. Soon Medicare would mean nothing because no one would accept it for payment. I guess that would keep it solvent though.

bob

[Nick1911]

That's all they need, a new group of thousands upon thousands using Medicare and the hospitals/physician offices being stuck with their dismal reimbursement rates. Soon Medicare would mean nothing because no one would accept it for payment. I guess that would keep it solvent though.

bob

I'm sure MillCreek knows this, but Isn't there a law that states hospitals meeting specific criteria are obligated to accept medicare?

[MillCreek]

^^^Not-for-profit and tax-exempt hospitals are required to accept Medicare. If you are not tax-exempt, you are not required to accept Medicare or Medicaid.  The bulk of hospitalized patients are on Medicare, and the typical hospital would go bankrupt if they did not take Medicare. Last time I checked, a little less than 60% of all hospitals are non-for-profit or tax exempt.  The remainder are for profit or run by a government entity.

[MillCreek]

That's all they need, a new group of thousands upon thousands using Medicare and the hospitals/physician offices being stuck with their dismal reimbursement rates. Soon Medicare would mean nothing because no one would accept it for payment. I guess that would keep it solvent though.

bob

A lot of the local ambulatory healthcare systems accept very few patients with straight Medicare.  They push the patients to sign up with a Medicare Advantage plan if you want to be seen there.  The sticky wicket is that depending on who is offering the highest reimbursement that year, which Medicare Advantage plans are accepted can change every year or so.  That means that if the patients want to keep going to that particular doctor, they have to change to another plan.

[MillCreek]

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2019/10/15/769792903/how-non-profit-hospitals-are-driving-up-the-cost-of-health-care

Hospitals are a hot potato in state and local politics for two reasons

1. They are often one of the largest employers in a given city or region
2. Everyone wants to have a local hospital.  Losing a hospital is often seen as a sign that a given city or region is dying.

As a result of this, hospitals can rank right up there with Big Pharma when it comes to lobbying for money, tax breaks and incentives.

Edited to add: Mergers, acquisitions and consolidation is the name of the game now in the hospital business. Proponents say it leads to higher quality and reduced costs.  Much of the data out there does not support this, and there is lots of data showing increased costs due to the loss of competition.

[K Frame]

"I also worry about the country affording the Medicare expansion."

You just make one predator billionaire pay his FAIR SHAREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! and all will be fine.

Bernie told me so.