Medicare Executive Summary

The Medicare trust fund is a government insurance program that finances medical care for three different groups of individuals: people that are 65 years of age or older, disabled individuals who can receive Social Security benefits, and people who have end-stage renal disease (Shi & Singh, 2015). Individuals in these three categories can enroll regardless of their annual income. In 2015 there were 55.3 million beneficiaries and the expenditures for the year totaled $648 billion ("Trustees report," 2016). Medicare is funded by payroll taxes, general tax revenues, and premiums that are paid by individuals enrolled in the plan.

The essential target of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) was to furnish seniors in the United States with moderate scope for their physician endorsed solutions through the new Medicare Part D professionally prescribed medication advantage. After the MMA was implemented—however before Part D was actualized—there was a disagreement about the cost of the program. In March 2004, the Medicare Chief Actuary affirmed before the House Ways and Means Committee of United States Congress that he was requested by the (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) CMS Administrator to smother his assessments of the ten-year cost of the program, which were considerably more noteworthy than unique Congressional Budget

Part A is predominantly financed through taxes paid by employees and employers (Facts, 2015). There is a 2.9% tax on earnings, and taxes account for 87% of Part A revenue. The taxes are deposited into the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund (Medicare, 2014). Additionally, the article (2015) states that employers and employees pay a payroll tax of 1.45% each, while higher-income taxpayers pay a higher payroll tax of 2.35% on earnings. Part B is funded by general revenue and premiums paid by beneficiaries. Medicare pays premiums for Part B on the behalf of beneficiaries who qualify for Medicaid based on their low incomes and assets (Medicare, 2014). Alternatively, beneficiaries with higher incomes pay a higher monthly premium based on their incomes (Medicare, 2014). According to data collected in 2014 by the Kaiser Family Foundation (2014), these premiums can range from $146.90 to $335.70 per month. The article (2014) states that the income thresholds for the

Obamacare serves the purpose of expanding health insurance access, protect patients against arbitrary actions by insurance companies, and reduce overall costs. As discussed in the above section, evidence shows that there are many issues in the current healthcare system that warrants a change. These changes will more or less take years to establish in full swing but it is important to start supporting this change now. These changes will pursue an overall improvement of the current healthcare system to the possibility of a sustainable system while ensuring a healthier nation.

The Health Affairs published an article in about a proposed Medicare reform regarding the high levels of use of Medicare although there was little impact on individuals. Though this article dates back to 2002, the issue still remains true to this day. In this article, the authors explain that the high level of Medicare spending was mostly due to the increase number of physician visits, specialist consultations, and hospital stays, especially among those that had chronic illnesses. Although the spending is higher among such Medicare patients, this did not mean better effective care or health care outcomes. On the contrary, according to the article, more than 20% of the total

Medicare is funded by the Social Security Administration, which means it’s generally financed by taxpayers. Payroll taxes paid by most employers, employees, and people who are self-employed help finance Medicare. There are 4 parts of Medicare, each part is funded differently. Part A, the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust fund is paid by taxpayers. Employees pay 1.45% of their earning into the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), which goes into the trust fund. Employers pay an additional 1.45% into FICA. Those who are self-employed pay 2.9% towards FICA. Individuals making $200,000 or more and couples making 250,000 or more pay a higher percentage of 2.35% into the Health Insurance Trust Fund. The

The Medicare Modernization Act, or Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003, was passed into law to amend and modernize the current Medicare system. There are a few problems that this law aims to solve or provide relief towards. First, it will allow seniors to save money on their prescription drugs because many have the problem of not being able to afford them on their own or have a lack of drug coverage with their existing plan. Low income seniors and those with limited resources will receive further assistance paying for medication. The second problem addressed by the MMA is that all seniors are receiving a standard Medicare and are not given choices of alternatives to better fit their needs. They will

Medicare and Medicaid assist 111 million individuals of which 10 million individuals are qualified for both programs. By 2025, that number will increase to 139 million individuals. Medicare beneficiaries receive $23,500 for a medium income and Medicaid beneficiaries receive $15,000 (Altman & Frist, 2015). Both programs combined comprise of “39% of national health spending, account for 23% of the federal budget, and generate 43% of hospital revenues” (Altman & Frist, 2015). These programs are predicted to increase by 3.7% each year. Since the two programs affect many individuals, any changes to the programs can shake election turn-out votes. The toughest health policy surrounding Medicare and Medicaid today is whether the programs should remain entitlements.

Throughout the early 1980’s and 1990’s the Federal Medicaid program was challenged by rapidly rising Medicaid program costs and an increasing number of uninsured population. One of the primary reasons for the overall increase in healthcare costs is the

Medicare is our country’s health insurance program for people age 65 or older. Certain people younger than age 65 can qualify for Medicare, too, including those with disabilities and those who have permanent kidney failure. There are several changes for Medicare enrollees in 2017. The average increase is more than $4/month, and average premiums will be about $109/month for about 70 percent of enrollees. But the exact amount they’ll pay will vary depending on the dollar amount of the cost of living adjustment on their Social Security checks.

Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people with certain disabilities, end stage renal disease, and for those who are over the age of 65. There are four different parts to Medicare, part A, part B, part C, and part D. Medicare Part A, also known as hospital insurance, covers inpatient hospital stays, care in nursing facilities, hospice care, and some in home health care. Part B is often referred to as medical insurance; it covers certain doctors’ services, outpatient care, medical supplies, and preventative care services. Medicare Part C, otherwise known as Medicare advantage plan is offered by a private

Medicaid is the U.S. government’s health insurance program, that furnishes health care coverage to more than 74.7 million eligible adults and children in the country ("Medicaid Enrollees," 2017), with over $553.4 billion reported total health care spending for the fiscal year of 2016 ("Medicaid Spending," 2016). As the number of eligible Medicaid enrollees grows, the amount of health care spending is presumed to accelerate. The 2016-2025 National Health Expenditure Projections showed a 5.6% per year increase in the United States’ national health expenses and a per capita growth of 4.7% per year. However, compared to 2015’s 9.7% Medicaid spending, the projected drop of 6.1% on 2016 is primarily due to the earlier year’s large influx of

According to Grant (2017), Medicaid covered 3.4 million people in the 1960’s and today more than 81 million people are recipients of Medicaid benefits. This increase in covered recipients has greatly increased the governments expenditure on the program; approximately $2 trillion is spent on Medicaid benefits. There has been a proposal to decrease the amount of federal funding allotted to Medicaid programs

Medicaid insurance covers approximately 60 million Americans, according to their income. Medicaid is larger than any other single private health insurance program. The criteria for participating

Medicare Taxes: This tax is applied to provided elderly (65 years old) with health care services, such as doctors, hospitals, nurses, etc. Also, applies to those who are receiving social security disability benefits. Medicare tax rate is 1.45 percent of the total earning from each employee, without limitation, during the calendar year. Furthermore, there is a Medicare surtax of 0.9 percent withheld for those whose income exceed certain