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The Business of Health Care Report
My topic today is the new Medicare prescription drug bill and the effects it may have on other Medicare benefits. In December 2003 Congress passed some of the most sweeping changes in Medicare since the program began in the 1960s. Among the prizes in the new act was a prescription drug benefit for seniors – passed with plenty of arm-twisting and without adequate time to gauge its consequences on other federal budget items. Now more about the benefit comes to light. The original price tag of $395 billion over 10 years is estimated to be closer to $535 billion. Within only a few months of the historic bill’s passage, Medicare trustees paint a bleak picture of Medicare’s solvency. The program is expected to fall into deficit this year and exhaust surplus funds by 2019 – 13 years ahead of previous predictions. The reason? A deteriorating financial picture for the health care program for older and disabled Americans, resulting in part from rising health care costs but additionally from passage of the prescription drug law. Are we really surprised? While no one seemed to question the need for prescription drug relief, the impact of the bill was not clearly understood. Already there’s talk that the catch-up will be at the expense of physician and hospital reimbursement. What this means is that seniors may gain relief for their drug bills while acquiring more financial responsibility for portions of their hospital and physician bills. And don’t forget increased supplemental insurance costs whenever Medicare raises its deductibles and co-pays. Seniors must understand, regardless of their political power in Washington, that retaining their highly prized Medicare requires tradeoffs. Do we overhaul the entire system? Do we rethink the prescription drug coverage? There’s only so much pie, and the slices are getting thinner. For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO
Doug Hawthorne
with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio 1080 KRLD.
©
2004 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 