Poll shows most Americans don't believe Medicare has to be cut

[Guy N]

A poll shows that most Americans do not believe that Medicare or Social Security has to be cut in order to balance the budget. The poll showed there was a big difference in what the public believes and what the experts say must be done as far as cutting the programs to balance the budget.

I thought this was an interesting article. It makes you wonder what really is the right thing to do as far as Medicare cutbacks are concerned.
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[Heatheratmmc]

More has to be done in respect to Medicare for those 50 and under now. The system was not designed to have a big "bubble" come through the system; aka the baby boomers. With healthcare costs rising, population is living longer; we will have to do something.

There are several areas we can have some impact right now. One being for everyone in the US to work on improving your health. My husband works in the under 65 market for health insurance. He says it's frustrating to watch our society not take responsibility for their own health. He has people tell him they are healthy, but yet take 3 meds (while being under 40 years of age). He hears "I take this, that, and the other med; but other than that I am healthy". No, really being under 40 and taking 3 meds, means you "feel" good, but take you off the meds and you will not feel so good. Basically, we have allowed the low cost of health insurance and medications (for those on group plans) to substitue for taking care of our own health with exercise. We have to take better care of ourselves. Eat healthy, Eat like your great grandparents did. Don't eat at the "golden archs" 5 times a week....My husband heard a statistic on the radio, 2/3 of the US population eligible to serve in the armed forces can not pass the physical fitness entrance exam...our poor health is becoming a National Defense problem.

The second area would be to focus on fraud in Medicare. Seniors should carefully review their EOBs (explaination of benefit letters). Make sure what was charge was what was performed. If you start to see lots of charges from Doctors and medical supply places in Florida and you don't live in Florida, beware. Someone is charging Medicare for services you are not receiving. In Florida and other states with large Senior populations, it's becoming more profitable and much safer for crooks to defraud Medicare than commit other crimes.

Getting off soap box.
Heather
www.mymedigapconsultant.com

 

[texas gal]

The system was not designed to have a big "bubble" come through the system; aka the baby boomers.

When the system was set up the baby boom was already over, so why wasn't it designed to take that into account? Baby boom was 1946-1964, Medicare started about 1966 or so I think. It wasn't like they couldn't see the boomers retiring eventually.

I do agree with you about taking responsibility for one's health however.

As far as fraud, yes I guess the patients can help prevent fraud by looking at their statements, but that isn't going to do much. The system needs to have better checks and balances so as not to encourage fraud. My Mama always said that if you let the fox in the henhouse then you can expect to lose some chickens.

Once a doctor is found to be have cheated Medicare they should NEVER be allowed to participate in Medicare again, I have heard of them gettting a slap on the wrist and being allowed right back in.

 

[carol43]

I know that the things they are talking about will not affect me but could affect the younger generation. I do know that I paid into medicare all my working life, and when I was paying into it I was paying for the generation ahead of me to get medicare, just like the current younger generation is paying for me to get medicare.

I think that they need to start by making medicare easier to understand for the average person like me. By making it simplier they may find ways to save money. They definitely need to limit the testing that doctors do. Also they need to limit efforts to prolong life when there is no hope. I read somewhere that a large portion of medical expenses were incurred during the last 30 to 60 days of someone's life, often when there is no hope of recovery. Everyone that is now living will die and we have to be realistic and stop spending huge sums when there is no hope of recovery. At that point in time is when hospice should take over. I am not being cruel here, just realistic.

The medicare system needs to be streamlined where the left hand knows what the right hand is doing. Like everyone I have ideas to throw out, but do not have a specific plan to solve the problem, but we're just talking informally here.

 

[Heatheratmmc]

to the post above, 95% of your health care expenses occur in the last 6 months of life. With my father in law, one child wants to keep him alive as long as possible; the other that took care of him knew he did not want to live like that. I understand the desire of the family to keep the loved one alive as long as possible, but Doctors have educate them as to what "life" will be like for the loved one. Our doctor did, he said we could keep him alive, but he would never leave that room and more than likely would not regain conciousness.

Texas Gal - the point I was trying to make is the number of people paying in now for the baby boomers is much less than when the baby boomers were paying for the generation ahead of them. I can not remember the exact amount, but it was more like 10+ paying in for each retired person, now it's much less than 10 paying in for each retired person.
Also, when the government sets up a program, they don't care what the costs will be in 10-20 years; that's someone elses problem. They are great at kicking the can down the road.

Thanks
Heather
www.mymedigapconsultant.com