Freedom1
08-25-2009, 02:57 PM
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/health/policy/21seniors.html?_r=4&ref=politics
The zeal for cutting health costs, combined with proposals to compare the effectiveness of various treatments and to counsel seniors on end-of-life care, may explain why some people think the legislation is about rationing, which could affect access to the most expensive services in the final months of life. [...]
A new survey, released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that 34 percent of people 65 and older believed they would be worse off “if the president and Congress passed health care reform,” while 23 percent said they would be better off. [...]
Mr. Obama has repeatedly said, “Nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits.” At the same time, he wants to eliminate what he describes as “unwarranted subsidies” and giveaways to private Medicare Advantage plans, which use some of the money to provide extra benefits.
More than one-fifth of the 45 million Medicare beneficiaries are in Medicare Advantage plans operated by insurance companies like Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealth. The House bill would cut payments to private plans by more than $160 billion over 10 years.
Medicare officials recently proposed changes that could increase payments for some primary care services but reduce payments to many specialists. Cardiologists would be especially hard hit, with cuts of more than 20 percent in payments for electrocardiograms and 12 percent for heart stent procedures.
The zeal for cutting health costs, combined with proposals to compare the effectiveness of various treatments and to counsel seniors on end-of-life care, may explain why some people think the legislation is about rationing, which could affect access to the most expensive services in the final months of life. [...]
A new survey, released Thursday by the Kaiser Family Foundation, found that 34 percent of people 65 and older believed they would be worse off “if the president and Congress passed health care reform,” while 23 percent said they would be better off. [...]
Mr. Obama has repeatedly said, “Nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits.” At the same time, he wants to eliminate what he describes as “unwarranted subsidies” and giveaways to private Medicare Advantage plans, which use some of the money to provide extra benefits.
More than one-fifth of the 45 million Medicare beneficiaries are in Medicare Advantage plans operated by insurance companies like Aetna, Humana and UnitedHealth. The House bill would cut payments to private plans by more than $160 billion over 10 years.
Medicare officials recently proposed changes that could increase payments for some primary care services but reduce payments to many specialists. Cardiologists would be especially hard hit, with cuts of more than 20 percent in payments for electrocardiograms and 12 percent for heart stent procedures.