Medicare

Commentary

Reduced Medicare Benefits Will Increase Cost of Private Insurance

However, the government will undoubtedly be successful in driving private insurers out of the Medicare Advantage program, threatening about 11 million seniors’ access to this valuable alternative. The key difference between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare is that the latter operates according to a Soviet-style, centrally determined schedule of fees, ...
Commentary

The Advantage of Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage is an important alternative to traditional Medicare, which operates as a government monopoly. Seniors can choose among various plans provided by private health plans and select one that best suits their needs. In order to participate in the program, insurers submit bids to the government for the right ...
Health Care

Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly: Protecting Seniors’ Choices and Taxpayers’ Wallets in the Federal Government’s Largest Entitlement Program

This report by John R. Graham, Director of Health Studies at Pacific Research Institute, examines the costs and benefits of Medicare Advantage, which allows consumers to get their benefits through private insurance plans. Under the Senate Health Care bill, the Medicare Advantage program, would be cut by about $118 billion. ...
Education

New Study Finds that Medicare Advantage Relieves the “Hidden Tax” On Privately Insured Americans

San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released its new report, Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly: Protecting Seniors’ Choices and Taxpayers’ Wallets in the Federal Government’s Largest Entitlement Program, by Health Care Studies Director John R. Graham. The report examines the ...
Commentary

Debate: Don’t Buy Into Medicare Buy-In

Sphere (AOL News), December 9, 2009 (Dec. 9) — Senate leaders are knee-deep in negotiations over the final version of their health care reform bill. Public outcry – and fear of losing the support of wavering centrists – has forced Democratic chieftains to jettison the controversial “public option.” In its ...
Commentary

Cutting Medicare Benefits Will Not Protect Taxpayers

While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...
Health Care

The Advantage of Medicare Advantage: Why Reducing Seniors’ Choices Won’t Protect Taxpayers

Medicare Advantage, in which about one-quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled, is a program that subsidizes beneficiaries’ access to private health insurance. The Pacific Research Institute will shortly publish Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly? a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of this program for Medicare beneficiaries and ...
Commentary

Medicare Reimbursement Cap Called Unlikely to Stop Fraud

Responding to serious Medicare fraud and corruption in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, where five doctors from one clinic were found guilty of racketeering over the past three years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is proposing a nationwide cap on Medicare reimbursements for treating in-home patients with chronic ailments. The ...
Commentary

Annual Medicare Fraud: $60 Billion; Annual Profits of Top Ten Insurance Companies: $8 billion

Well, let’s see…. Last year, the profits of the ten largest insurance companies in America were just over $8 billion — combined. No single insurance company made even five percent of what Medicare reportedly loses in fraud. While we’re making comparisons, in its real first ten years (2014-23), the Senate ...
Commentary

Doctors Seven Times More Satisfied with Payments from Private Insurance as Medicare

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation, the survey’s results were promoted with a different headline than you see above. “Poll finds most doctors support public option,” said National Public Radio (NPR); “73% of doctors favor public option,” said Salon’s Steve Klingman. These headlines were encouraged by the RWJ ...
Commentary

Reduced Medicare Benefits Will Increase Cost of Private Insurance

However, the government will undoubtedly be successful in driving private insurers out of the Medicare Advantage program, threatening about 11 million seniors’ access to this valuable alternative. The key difference between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare is that the latter operates according to a Soviet-style, centrally determined schedule of fees, ...
Commentary

The Advantage of Medicare Advantage

Medicare Advantage is an important alternative to traditional Medicare, which operates as a government monopoly. Seniors can choose among various plans provided by private health plans and select one that best suits their needs. In order to participate in the program, insurers submit bids to the government for the right ...
Health Care

Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly: Protecting Seniors’ Choices and Taxpayers’ Wallets in the Federal Government’s Largest Entitlement Program

This report by John R. Graham, Director of Health Studies at Pacific Research Institute, examines the costs and benefits of Medicare Advantage, which allows consumers to get their benefits through private insurance plans. Under the Senate Health Care bill, the Medicare Advantage program, would be cut by about $118 billion. ...
Education

New Study Finds that Medicare Advantage Relieves the “Hidden Tax” On Privately Insured Americans

San Francisco – The Pacific Research Institute, a free-market think tank based in San Francisco, today released its new report, Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly: Protecting Seniors’ Choices and Taxpayers’ Wallets in the Federal Government’s Largest Entitlement Program, by Health Care Studies Director John R. Graham. The report examines the ...
Commentary

Debate: Don’t Buy Into Medicare Buy-In

Sphere (AOL News), December 9, 2009 (Dec. 9) — Senate leaders are knee-deep in negotiations over the final version of their health care reform bill. Public outcry – and fear of losing the support of wavering centrists – has forced Democratic chieftains to jettison the controversial “public option.” In its ...
Commentary

Cutting Medicare Benefits Will Not Protect Taxpayers

While much of the “savings” promoted by the deficit chicken-hawks are delusional (waste, fraud, abuse, and no longer “fixing” doctors’ Medicare Part B reimbursement), one is very real: Cutting actual Medicare benefits by reducing seniors’ choices of Medicare Advantage plans. Traditional Medicare Part A (hospital) and Part B (outpatient) benefits ...
Health Care

The Advantage of Medicare Advantage: Why Reducing Seniors’ Choices Won’t Protect Taxpayers

Medicare Advantage, in which about one-quarter of Medicare beneficiaries are currently enrolled, is a program that subsidizes beneficiaries’ access to private health insurance. The Pacific Research Institute will shortly publish Medicare Advantage or Medicare Monopoly? a thorough analysis of the costs and benefits of this program for Medicare beneficiaries and ...
Commentary

Medicare Reimbursement Cap Called Unlikely to Stop Fraud

Responding to serious Medicare fraud and corruption in Florida’s Miami-Dade County, where five doctors from one clinic were found guilty of racketeering over the past three years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is proposing a nationwide cap on Medicare reimbursements for treating in-home patients with chronic ailments. The ...
Commentary

Annual Medicare Fraud: $60 Billion; Annual Profits of Top Ten Insurance Companies: $8 billion

Well, let’s see…. Last year, the profits of the ten largest insurance companies in America were just over $8 billion — combined. No single insurance company made even five percent of what Medicare reportedly loses in fraud. While we’re making comparisons, in its real first ten years (2014-23), the Senate ...
Commentary

Doctors Seven Times More Satisfied with Payments from Private Insurance as Medicare

Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation, the survey’s results were promoted with a different headline than you see above. “Poll finds most doctors support public option,” said National Public Radio (NPR); “73% of doctors favor public option,” said Salon’s Steve Klingman. These headlines were encouraged by the RWJ ...
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