Medicare, a System in Trouble

Medicare is the only source of health care insurance many older people have. These people (and I am not talking about just the 70 somethings, but the 50 somethings and on up) depend solely on the choices and decisions Medicare makes, such as what prescription drugs Medicare will and will not pay for and how much they will pay. Yes, the new drug program is helpful, but right in the middle of the year, Medicare's drug "help" program tells you that you have reached your limit as far as what they will spend on your prescriptions, so guess what? You pay the full price yourself for the remainder of the calendar year. Many older people cannot afford to purchase the medicine they need so they end up "going without". There is something wrong with this picture.

I suppose the prescription situation would not be so bad, but with the new laws passed at the end of last year, Medicare now has lowered substantially what they will pay Doctors to see a patient. This is huge for many older people who count on Medicare as their sole health insurance provider. Doctors are just "saying no" to people who have Medicare now. Doctors are refusing to take patients who have Medicare. What are these older people, most of them on lower, fixed incomes, going to do? The amount of money Doctors were receiving prior to the new laws was a joke but now it has been lowered so much more that they cannot afford to have Medicare patients.

What are our lawmakers thinking? They are certainly not considering the interests and well being of their constituency. The baby boomers are coming into the age of "senior citizenry" now and are flooding the health care system everywhere. How wonderful it is if one has a great health insurance coverage policy that the Doctors can afford to accept. But again, what about the ever more quickly increasing numbers of people who count on Medicare? I received a letter from AARP, which gave me the phone number for my senator's office. I called to say that since the House of Representatives has already passed legislation to increase the amount that Medicare will pay to Doctors I ask that the Senate do their part in getting this put into law so people may benefit from the Medicare system as soon as possible. Sadly, I do not see a happy ending for many people if our lawmakers don't do something and do it quickly!