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Medicare and Medicaid costs continue to rise slower than private insurance

Post on August 10, 2012 by 5 Comments »

Paul Van de Water, one of the top budget wonks at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, has a worth-reading post at Off the Charts this morning.

“Medicare and Medicaid spending per beneficiary has grown less rapidly than costs for private health insurance in recent years, as we have previously pointed out.  (See here and Figure 1 here.)

This favorable trend is projected to continue for at least the coming decade, according to a new article in The New England Journal of Medicine.  These data belie the claim that spending for Medicare and Medicaid is “out of control” and that the programs must be fundamentally restructured by adopting Medicare premium support or converting Medicaid into a block grant.”

And here’s his chart illustrating this reality:

You can read the entire post by clicking here.

 

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Comments (Closed):5

  1. Alex O'Connor
    August 10, 2012 at 1:31 pm

    A scary thing happened as I was having Chemo the other day, I was looking at the other women in the room who were all of Medicare and Social Security age except me. An eleven to one ratio. I thought I am paying more with my private insurance and high deductible than they are to subsidize their care. I would not mind subsidizing their care but with MS and stage III cancer I can not work and with no help from the Government or charity care I can’t afford to pay for them. They were talking about Obamacare and “socialism”. I was thinking yes “socialism”. We who have a modest income are paying more for my cancer care to make up for what the hospital loses in your eleven cases. My retirement and house are on the line to pay for my out of pocket medical costs which grow every day. The seniors say they paid into Medicare. This is true but not nearly enough to cover a Cancer bill so they are getting more than they ever put into it and the cost shift goes to those on private insurance. If the Government paid out a lump sum of five times what Seniors paid into Medicare the Government would be way ahead. Politicians say my generation has to make sacrifices on our Medicare for the good of the country and the debt we all ready make our fair share everyday.

  2. JeffS
    August 12, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    Alex, it is highly likely that you, also, have not paid enough into your private insurance to cover cancer cost either. You don’t seem to have a problem, at least not that you mention, with allowing others to subsidize your own care. There seems to be somewhat of a double standard here.

  3. Jack
    August 12, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    Some time ago when I needed health insurance there wasn’t an insurance company that would accept me as a policy holder due to a life threating pre-existing condition unless I paid, what was for me at the time, a prohibitive premium. I applied for Medicaid and Medicare in preparation of my future medical needs.

    Because of Medicaid and Medicare and a very good doctor of my choosing I received the surgery I needed. Because of Medicaid and Medicare I got a second chance at life that I would not have had if it were left up the so called “best healthcare system in the world” of which health insurance is a large part of.

    The health insurance industry couldn’t have cared less about my life but the government owned and operated Medicaid and Medicare did. As a result of that caring I was able to receive life saving surgery and follow up medical care I needed. In time I returned to the workplace, raised my family and I continue to contribute to the well-being of my community.

  4. Doug
    August 13, 2012 at 10:32 am

    I’m confused on how you apply for Medicare or Medicaid, since one depends on your age, and the other is income- based especially for adult Medicaid. Being turned down for private insurance usually does not make you eligible for either of these programs.

  5. Jack
    August 14, 2012 at 10:27 am

    I know Doug it is pretty confusing isn’t it?

    As a person with a disability I qualified for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) therefore I qualified for Medicare as per the criteria under the Social Security Administration guidelines. As for Medicaid I automatically qualified because of meeting criteria of SSI.

    You can find this information and more at http://www.ssa.gov