Is a Lower Medicare Age Limit a Good Idea for Health Reform
I feel like a cartoon character today. You know, the type who sputter expetives like $#&! and stomps around. Why? Well, I am really disappointed that we are close to losing the health reform public option even though a majority of Americans say they favor it.
People, this is not about free health isurance. This is about having any access to health care at all for many people. Lots of Americans would be happy to pay a premium if they could get accepted. But they cannot get accepted because they have a health condition which cause insurers to decline them.
And yes, there are lots of Americans who cannot afford premiums which can average about $1,000 a month for an average family. Many people get help from their jobs so they do not pay that whole price tag. But millions do not have this luxury, and this is a real problem.
Drop The Medicare Age to 55?
But I have written before about how hard it is for middle aged people to get accepted by private health isurance companies. Learn more – health insurance over 50. So lawmakers thought they could reduce the problem of uninsured and uninsurable Americans by simply lowering the standard age limit for Medicare from 65 to 55.
Let’s think about this. The plan would allow uninsured Americans who are aged 55 to 64 to buy into Medicare. These would be people who do not have a group medical plan through their job or other private options. However, estimates put premiums at well over $600 a month, and that will still price out many of the 4 million people who might be eligible. Government subsidies are considered, but probably won’t be put in place right away.
Beyond that, many health providers are concerned because they already claim they lose money when accepting Medicare patients. They are not sure if they can continue in business if even more of their patients are using a Medicare card. On the other hand, many other medical providers rely on Medicare for most of their patient load, and these claim they will be happy to accept more patients.
The New Public Option?
We probably won’t be seeing Medicare for All any time soon. But instead of an actual public option, a private, non-profit insurance plan is being considered. This would be administered by the US Office of Personnel Magagement which already runs the federal employee’s health care system. This does not mean that lower wage earners would get the same level of benefits that your congressman does though.
So What is Health Reform Today?
I guess you should not to be ashamed to admit that you are confused by the current state of US health reform. It seems to have gone through so many changes in the last few months. And even if it was the same, it is complex, and as time passes it is hard to remember what was being proposed in the first place.
My hope is that our government can provide a way for every American to purchase affordable health insurance. Is that so complicated? I guess it is. I am not exactly how this new version of the health plan does that. Would somebody care to explain it to me?
Related posts:
The website – PHNP – written by doctors – suggests that expanding Medicare into a public option – in steps (i.e. start with age 55) may be our best hope for a workable public option in the end.
http://pnhp.org/blog/2009/12/09/medicare-buy-in/
[...] to have health insurance, but provides no public option as a fallback. We saw the rise of the Medicare at age 55 idea, and were a little bit optimistic that could lead to further expansion of this established [...]