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Medicare For All Isn't The Answer
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almost 4 years ago
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Medicare reimbursements to hospitals fail to cover the actual cost of providing services. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), ... says hospitals received only 94.1 cents for every dollar they spent treating Medicare patients in 2007. MedPAC projects that number to decline to 93.1 cents per dollar spent in 2009, for an operating shortfall of 7%. Medicare works because hospitals subsidize the care they provide with revenue received from patients who have commercial insurance. Without that revenue, hospitals could not afford to care for those covered by Medicare. In effect, everyone with insurance is subsidizing the Medicare shortfall, which is growing larger every year. If hospitals had to rely solely on Medicare reimbursements for operating revenue ,... , many hospitals would be forced to eliminate services, cut investments in advanced medical technology, reduce the number of nurses and other employees, and provide less care for the patients they serve.
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donz
almost 4 years ago
24 comments
Medicare has helped many and although there are problems that need to be addressed it should not be thrown out altogether...I too feel that those who have not worked and paid taxes should have no benefit from this...(I would like to retire now, but I know that no one will take care of me...and I know the government won't ---no matter what is being said---"It is -what it is."
JNGNRN
almost 4 years ago
6 comments
WBatley214, thank you for facts. Your point has been proven many times.
Many hospitals that recieve state/government funding are also required CURRENTLY to prove charity in the form of "write offs". We care for the uninsured, ask for a minimal monthly payment, and then yearly we must randomly write off some of these debts to the patients. Since I am not in administration, I don't know what percentage is required to write off, but I have friends who are uninsured (they prefer bonuses from thier bosses, or just don't work at all) that have had thier total hospital bill written off. They owed nothing!
I disagree that everyone should benefit even if they don't pay taxes, or better, if they have never paid taxes. The elderly provided for us and we should provide for them, they earned it with the sweat on thier backs. Young people who can work should work, even if it is at McDonalds. Health Care is not a right and never has been, no matter what political party you subscribe to.
JanM
almost 4 years ago
6 comments
Medical care should be available for all whether you pay taxes or not. Health care reform should be suitable for everyone and health care must be a right. However, the health care reform bill has its own critics. News has been buzzing about the op-ed piece, called New York Post Deadly Doctors. New York Post Deadly Doctors refers to an op-ed by Betsy McCaughhey, and she isn't in favor of Obamacare. The piece described a purported tenet of the public health care plan, which would create an allotment system that would deny care to the mentally disabled and the elderly. (This rumor hasn't been confirmed in the bill itself.) She also went on a tear about Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm Emanuel's brother, and hasn't checked a lot of facts or cited the health care bill itself. Maybe she should have put some cash advances into researching New York Post Deadly Doctors instead of just quaking over nothing.