Medicare complexity may scare off seniors
By Brooke Adams
The Salt Lake Tribune
11/08/2005
As a tax attorney, Bill Vogel was not easily stumped by complex calculations. Wife Donna, a retired nurse recruiter, navigated the health care world with ease. But the two Salt Lake City residents admit that selecting a Medicare prescription drug plan has left them confused – and angry. “There is one good aspect to this. We will have national health insurance sooner than later,” Bill Vogel predicts. “Seniors will be sick of this, the complications, the paperwork.”
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_3193444
Comment: The one saving grace of the Medicare Part D drug program is that it represents an implicit admission that drugs must be a part of any comprehensive program of health care coverage.
As enrollment begins, the complexities of the program have proven to be a nightmare for Medicare beneficiaries. Part D is an unstable, highly flawed program which will require major changes. As examples, there are two specific features which in themselves will mandate a return to the drawing boards.
Beneficiaries can choose a private Medicare Advantage plan to access drug coverage. To advance the conservative agenda of privatizing Medicare, these plans are paid far more than would be spent in the traditional program (risk adjusted) so that they can offer drugs as an incentive to join the plans. These excessive payments will not be tolerated for long. When an equitable method of funding the plans is established, they will not be able to compete with the traditional program because of their higher administrative expenses, and they will withdraw from the market.
For those who remain in the traditional program, numerous stand-alone Part D drug programs will be available. A Kaiser Family Foundation survey suggests that Part D participation will be quite low. Who will enroll? Those who have high drug costs – a classical case of adverse selection. It is likely that the privatizers in Congress would then attempt to pass more of the costs on to the beneficiaries. Even if they didn’t, there would be a major effort to reduce Part D funding simply because the program is “too expensive.”
Tax attorney Bill Vogel is right. We will have national health insurance, and it will include a comprehensive drug benefit.
