Medicare Crisis free essay sample

Are radical measures necessary to preserve the program? Most people will answer yes if asked if Medicare is in a state of crisis. If you scrutinize the budget in detail, it is pretty obvious that sometime around 2050, the system will go bankrupt if it keeps the same standards and rules that it follows now. Since this is a government program, most of the public feel that it is up to the government to make sure that this does not happen and Medicare as we know it continues without problems. As a congressman who has been asked to prepare a paper on this dilemma, there are two options, a) eliminate Medicare and give the funds to the people who saved the money, or b) put more severe restrictions on Medicare that will influence all care for those who qualify for these funds in the future (http://www. garynorth. com/public/5545. cfm) How is Medicare funded now? Why do elderly people feel that Medicare is an insurance program and not a welfare program? Is this perception accurate? Most of the people who have followed the Medicare crisis know that this is not a dollar for dollar for program. We will write a custom essay sample on Medicare Crisis or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The government has been dipping into the funds for years to pay off debts and to keep the economy solvent yet realizing at some point that those Medicare dollars will have to be accounted for. Medicare payroll taxes and premiums cover only 57% of current benefits. The other 47% comes from general funds. Within the two section, payroll taxes collect enough to pay Medicare Part A but not Parts B and D (http://useconomy. about. com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Mandatory. htm). Most elderly people have live during the period since 1965 when the Medicare program was established. In a forty-five year period, the amount of money paid gives them some assurance that the dollars put into the system were safe-guarded for their use as they reached the age when they needed health insurance. Most do not see this as welfare but more as an entitlement. Unfortunately, most elderly do not realize that this money has been used for other debts and the government is relying on the money being paid into the system today by younger people in the workforce. Elder feel Medicare is deserved for the many years of work and either paying their own medical bills while paying into Medicare through their company or insurance. The younger workforce is smaller than the people now using the funds for healthcare needs. Should there be a Medicare program at all? Why should the government be involved in providing insurance to elderly people? Does Medicare have detrimental effects on the market for healthcare or on the market for health insurance? Taking citizens out of the Medicare program will mean some kind of either socialized structure or a tiered system of entering a different system as people age. It is not an all or none system that will work if everyone moves to another system unless a method for care is in place. Medicare promotes health insurance because many elderly who can afford additional coverage will buy the supplemental policies to keep from having the burden of a high bill if a catastrophic problem were to occur. With more than half of the government spending restricted to mandatory spending, it leaves very little to discretionary funds (http://useconomy. about. com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Mandatory. htm). Are these economic effects, offset by the positive effects of the Medicare program for the elderly? What about the positive effects of caring for the elderly for society? Are there any externalities here? These are the current negative effects of the economic spending that may give positive gains to the Medicare program. A few years ago, the banks in our country were nearly bankrupt and needed a boost of funds to get them operating again. They next big drain has been mortgages and loss of homes due to a rigid budget in paying back these funds. The next big drain will be the retiring Baby Boomers who are now going into their retirement expecting all the funds they saved for years by working since they were either in college or in the armed service. They also feel entitled to their share of this dwindling piece of the pie (http://useconomy. bout. com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Mandatory. htm). It is important to look at where the money is going. Are the doctors getting rich? Do the hospitals make too much money? I wouldn’t be surprised if the heavy part of the financial gain was not going to pharmaceuticals and supplies. The medications in the United States are drastically higher than in other countries. There has to be a reason for this. Someone is making top dollar for these medications when they cost so much less just over the border. The positive side of this situation is the need for responsibility of families for caring for the elderly. In many countries, it is expected that when the elderly can no longer live independently, they will live with their children. There are specific rules such as female children will house the parent and male children will assist with financing. As a nation, we have become reticent in the care of our elderly relatives. For some families, this is already an expectation. This is not to say that is some cases, there is no way a single child can care for an elder when there is no help, but this is probably a low percentage of those who are housed in nursing homes. Justify your position on either economic efficiency or equity grounds (or both). Sometimes it is easy to think poorly of Medicare, but it is just a tool of government and used only as a means to an end. It is apparent from the literature that Medicare not only makes it hard for the insured, it is difficult for physicians to get reimbursement and some waiting up to five years to get complete funding for services (Gatty, 2011);(Gatty, 2008). In the quality hospital patients get good care and the hospital gets a higher rate of reimbursement.