Refining Medicare

In the drive to fix the country’s ailing health care system, Medicare is likely to undergo some changes.

From article by Patricia Barry, AARP Bulletin Print Edition, January 7, 2009.

In the drive to fix the country’s ailing health care system, Medicare is likely to undergo some changes. Campaign promises from President-elect Barack Obama and a white paper issued by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, suggest that some specific Medicare proposals will get serious consideration this year.

Longtime ideological battles over whether Medicare should be a public or privatized program won’t melt away overnight, but may ease, experts say. “I think if President Obama has any influence, he’ll try to steer Congress away from that,” says Paul Ginsburg, president of the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington.

At a time of rising unemployment, Medicare’s finances could worsen faster than expected because of lost revenue from payroll taxes. Yet Medicare could lead the reform field if it reins in escalating health care costs. “The policies Medicare adopts are often taken up by private payers,” says John Rother, AARP’s director of policy. “Medicare is so large that it’s the only system with enough leverage to get doctors, hospitals and other health providers to change.”

See full article at:
http://bulletin.aarp.org/yourhealth/medicare/articles/refining_medicare.html

Regards
Tom Binder