Recession is not causing Medicare's demise, just accelerating the inevitable.
By Deane Waldman, The Huffington Post
What is going on with MediCare? Some advocate its expansion as a solution for our healthcare woes. Meanwhile, more and more providers are refusing to see MediCare patients. Recent reports suggest that the recession is killing MediCare.
MediCare was passed into law in 1964. At that time, health insurance was available only through one’s employer. Therefore, people over or under the working age range were excluded. MediCare and MediCaid were intended to close this gap for retirees and children respectively. The Programs were then greatly expanded to include categories of disease such as HIV, and other parts of our population such as indigents and those below the poverty line.
MediCare and MediCaid, though now considered identical entitlements, were initially quite different. MediCaid was a straight entitlement, a means-based government supported Program. MediCare was supposed to fund itself. The worker paid into the MediCare Trust while working and after retirement, received financed-by-oneself-in-advance health services.
Continue reading at The Huffington Post
Photo: ernstl/Flickr
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