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Everything Everyone Must Know About Medicare

  Sanjiv Gupta CPA  Published 
Everything Everyone Must Know About Medicare

Medicare is the single-payer and social insurance health policy program in the national setting that is administered by the federal government. This has been around since 1966. It is also currently using 30 to 50 privately owned insurance companies all over the United States and is also under contract in the administration.

Medicare in the US is funded by payroll taxes, surtaxes, and premiums from the beneficiaries as well as the general revenue. It also provides health insurance for Americans who are also over the age of 65 and are 65 years old, as long as they have worked and paid the system through the deductions in their payroll in the form of taxes. Medicare also offers health insurance to the young generation who have disability status as long as it is determined by the SSA or the Social Security Administration. They also consider the individuals who are suffering from the end stages of renal diseases as well as the end stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

On average, the health policy Medicare covers half of the health care plan policies and charges for those who have been enrolled. These enrollees and participants must also cover the remaining costs using their supplemental insurance or their separate insurance. There are others who even get the payments fresh from their pockets. These costs also vary and depend on the total of the health care policy that the enrollee from the Medicare needs. There might also be costs of the services that have been uncovered. For example, for the long-term policies, these include the hearing, dental as well as vision care. These also include insurance premiums that are supplemental.

It is important to know that Medicare has four Parts. Part A covers hospice and hospital services and costs. Part B covers the costs for outpatient services. Part D is the portion that covers the prescription drugs that are self-administered. Part C serves as the alternative to all the other parts that are allowed to experiment with structured plans that are set up differently which also reduces the costs to the government. This lets patients decide which plans to choose and they usually opt for one that has the most benefits.

History of Medicare

 Medicare has always been known as Medicare. This was the original name given to the program that has provided medical care for different families of the people who were serving in the military. They were part of the military and members of the Dependent’s Medical Care Act. This was passed in Congress in 1956. It was President Eisenhower who held the very first White House Conference on the topic of Aging. This was in January 1961. This was also the time when the program for health care that would provide social security benefits was proposed. In July 1965, when Lyndon Johnson was the president, Congress has enacted under the benefits of Medicare as stated in Title XVIII and stated in the Social Security Act. It also provided the health insurance coverage and policies to individuals aged 65 and even older, no matter how much they earn and their medical history. Johnson then signed the bill and it became a law on July 30, 1965. This was done at the Presidential Library named after Harry S. Truman in Independence, Missouri. The first recipients of the said program were Former President Truman along with his wife, the former First Lady named Bess Truman.

Before Medicare was created, around 60% of individuals who were over the age of 65 had access to health insurance. The coverage, unfortunately, was often unaffordable and unavailable to most, simply because the older individuals paid more than thrice as much for the younger people who had health insurance. Many of this younger group have become eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare because the law was passed and this gave them the benefit.

In 1966 Medicare combatted the racial integration of many people who were in the waiting room. They also promoted desegregation in hospital floors as well as physician practices and made sure that any race is equal whenever they made payments to their health care issuers and providers.

Medicare has been operating for almost half a century and it has gone through several changes. For example, since 1965, the provisions of Medicare have already expanded and included benefits for physical, chiropractic therapy and speech in 1972. Medicare also added the beneficiaries to opt and pay for health maintenance in the 1980s. Through the years, Congress has already expanded the Medicare eligibility to younger individuals who have been diagnosed with permanent disabilities and also received the SSDI or the Social Security Disability Insurance payments. Those who have also been diagnosed with ESRD or end-stage renal disease are also eligible for this.

In the 1980s, the association of Medicare with HMOs has begun and it was formalized under the presidency of Bill Clinton. It started in 1997 in the form of Part C of Medicare. In 2003, under the presidency of George W Bush, the program under Medicare that covered almost every drug was submitted to the congress and was passed as the bill. It was also taken in effect in Part D of Medicare.

In the year of 1982, the government has also added the benefits to hospice in order to assist the elder policyholders but only on a temporary basis. It became permanent in 1984. Congress has also expanded this further in 2001 to include the younger individuals with Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS or the scientific name is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Administration of Medicare

 The CMS or the Centers for both Medicare as well as Medicaid Services is the component of the HHS or the Department of Health and Human Services that also administers Medicaid, Medicare, CHIP which is also the Children’s Health Insurance Program, CLIA and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments and also parts of the ACA or the Affordable Care Act. Along with the Department of Treasury and Department of Labor, CMS also looks into the implementation of the insurance reform and the provisions on the Accountability Act of 1996 which is Health Insurance Portability. This is also known as HIPAA. Most aspects and parts of the PPACA or the Patient Protection and Affordable Act. The SSA and the Social Security Administration is also responsible for determining the eligibility for Medicare, payment, and eligibility for Extra Help as well as the Low-Income Subsidy Payments that are related to the Part D of Medicare. It also collects the payments that are premium for the program that Medicare conducts.

The Chief Actuary of the CMS is also responsible for providing the necessary cost projections and accounting information to the Trustees of the Medicare Board. It is essential in assisting them and also assessing the financial care and health of the Medicare program. The Board is also required by the law to give out annual reports regarding the financial status of the Trust Funds of the Medicare. Those reports are also required to contain the actuarial opinion statement from the Chief Actuary.

Since Medicare programs started, CMS has always been the institution that was contracted with the insurance companies that are privately owned in order to operate the intermediaries between the medical providers and the government to be responsible for administering Part B as well as Part A benefits. The processes that are contracted also include the claims and the processing payment along with clinician enrollment, call center services as well as a fraud investigation. In 1997, other insurance and policy plan companies started administering Part C. In 2005, other insurance plans started administering Part D.

The RUC or the Relative Value Update Committee or what is also known as the Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee is composed of a group of physicians that are associated with the AMA or the American Medical Association. This institution advises the policyholders as well as the government regarding the pay standards for the insurance plan of Medicare as well as the procedures that patients should be performed by professionals as well as doctors under Part B of Medicare. A similar yet different CMS system that also determines the rates that are paid for hospitals along with acute care. This also includes nursing facilities that are under Part A of Medicare.

Financing of Medicare

 Medicare has also several sources where it gets its finances. The inpatient under the portion Part A can be admitted in skilled nursing and hospital coverage and this is largely funded from 2.9% of the revenue and payroll tax. The law also provided a maximum amount when it comes to the compensation of the Medicare tax as well as its being imposed every year. The Social Security tax also works in a similar way. On January 1, 1994, the government removed the compensation limit. Employees who are also self-employed are required to pay the full 2.9% on the net earnings of the self-employed individual because they are for the employer as well as the employee. They can also deduct half of the taxes from their income by calculating the income tax.

Starting in 2013, the portion of Part A and its taxes from the earned income has exceeded $200,000 for every individual plan. As for married couples that filed jointly, this reached $250,000. It also rose an additional 3.8% so that the portion of the subsidies can also be paid and mandated by the PPACA.

Parts D, as well as Parts B, are funded partially by the premiums that have been paid by the Medicare enrollees and these are also considered as the general revenue fund. In 2006, Medicare started adding surtax on the premium of Part B. This was targeted to seniors who earned a higher income in order to fund Part D partially. In the PPACA legislation of the income tax year 2010, Medicare added surtax to the premium portion of Part D and also targeted these to the seniors who were earning lots of income. This is also conducted so that the PPACA can be partially funded along with the beneficiaries from Part B and subject to the double surtax. There is a double amount so that it can also partially fund PPACA.

Parts A, B, and D all use trust funds that are separate from one another so that there can be a reimbursement of both the receipt and disbursement of the funds that are mentioned. Part C utilizes all these trusts funds in proportion to one another so that it can be determined by the CMS and reflect that all the beneficiaries of Part C are complete in the full parts of Part A and Part B. Medicare, as well as the medical needs for each capita, are regarded as fee for service or what is also known as FFS.

Medicare and its spending amounted to 15% of the whole federal spending of the United States. Research all show that this can even exceed 17% by the year 2020.

The retirement of individuals who are called the Baby Boom generation is expected to increase its enrollment by 2030 and reached up to 80 million because that was how the number of workers who are enrolled in the program has declined. The figures dropped from 3.7 and to a low of 2.4. There are the rising and total health care costs that also pose the financial challenges that are substantial to the program. Medicare spending is also projected to even get higher and reach $1 trillion by the year 2020.

It is important to note that for every three dollars, one dollar is spent on Medicare as part of the cost-reduction program. The cost reduction is also influenced by the various factors that include the reduction in unnecessary and inappropriate care through the evidence-based practices of evaluation along with reducing the total amount of duplicative health care. The cost reduction can also be affected by the medical errors that are done when administrative agency increases and the development of clinical guidelines reach the quality standards