Baucus’ Baby Boom Buy-In
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There are over 5.1 million uninsured Americans between the ages of 55 and 64. Given the current economic climate and increasing unemployment rate, that number is sure to increase as employers lay off baby-boomers to cut the costs of providing them with benefits.
Senate Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-Mont.) proposed a plan for health care reform last November that allows Americans ages 55 through 64 to buy into Medicare. Baucus’ plan would allow members of that age group who are currently uninsured or who have lost their employment to pay a monthly premium and receive Medicare benefits.
Sunday’s Charleston Gazette examined Baucus’ plan to allow 55- to 64-year-olds to buy into Medicare.
The idea has been around for years, but it has gained new currency as the recession deepens and a Democrat-run Congress and White House begin to discuss health-care reform.
Advocates of an early Medicare buy-in say it would complement other entitlement reforms because it would keep older workers healthy and productive longer and help rein in government spending over the long haul,
said The Gazette.
Two New Reports Look at Increases in Health Care Spending
Filed under: Medicaid, Medicare, Private Insurance
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The Wall Street Journal reports that CMS estimates overall U.S. health care spending will reach $4.35 trillion in 2018, accounting for one-fifth of GDP. The findings by CMS were published Tuesday in the journal Health Affairs. In 2009, U.S. health care spending is expected to reach $2.5 trillion, a 5.5% increase from 2008.
The CMS study expects government health care spending to increase by 7.4% to $1.19 trillion this year. However, the study forecasts that, by 2016, the government will pay for more than 50% of total health care spending. The increase in government health care spending is expected to come from baby boomers enrolling in Medicare and increased enrollment in Medicaid.
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Medicare spending continues to vary widely across the U.S., according to a report to be published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.
According to The Times, Dartmouth researchers found that:
The regional differences in the growth of Medicare spending suggest doctors are helping to drive up costs when they more frequently order tests or admit patients to the hospitals. In areas where there are plenty of hospital beds and sophisticated imaging equipment available, doctors generally spend more on their patients.
Dr. Elliott S. Fisher, the director of the Center of Health Policy Research at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice and one of the work’s authors, told The Times that:
[A]ny attempt to rein in health care costs . . . needs to address how doctors and hospitals are paid, where they are rewarded on the basis of the volume of services they perform.
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