Unit 3 Discussion
- Why do healthcare organizations have to understand Medicare and Medicaid?
- Provide information on two past legislative attempts to control Medicare and Medicaid costs. Were they successful?
- Provide your thoughts on whether today’s legislation will be more successful.
UNIT 3 Discussion
Medicaid and Medicaid are important federal healthcare programs. These programs are monitored by the “Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)”. Medicaid and Medicaid are used by Americans as their primary payment mode. The provisions of Medicaid and Medicare assist people to live healthy lives accompanied by affordable healthcare when needed (Lee et al. 2019, p.21). Medicaid and Medicare have decreased the proportion of uninsured Americans and become the standard-bearers of innovation and quality in healthcare. Thus, Medicare and Medicaid are crucial aspects of the healthcare industry.
Most of the budget of Medicare savings in the budget of 1990 and 1993 reconciliation bills were into effect. These budget reconciliation bills were crucial to producing budget surpluses to 2001 from 1998. Also, these savings were enacted in the “Deficit Reduction Act” 2005. Some of the Medicare cost cuts were enacted as a portion of the Balanced Budget Act 1997 and a major proportion of the intended cuts were allowed into effect. It is unlikely that budgets have made Congress more receptive to alterations. There seems to be no chance of sustaining budget surpluses that can reappear in the near future. In some cases, Medicare cuts of the spending reform bills are greater than the cuts deployed in the yesteryears. However, these proposed cuts are not considered unusually large relative to the Medicare program size (cbpp.org, 2022).
In my opinion, contrary to the conventional design of Medicare, the new plans of Medicare Advantage are consistent with the expanding pattern of managed care. It includes an employer-based system encompassing nonelderly coverage. The income-adjusted Medicare is mainly compatible with income-based subsidies that are available for health insurance exchange plans. Thus, I think recent alterations in regulations and laws facilitate Medicare plans to encompass nonclinical services that impact health like non-urgent transportation, home modifications, and nutritional services to decrease injury risks.
References
cbpp.org, 2022, house passed and senate health bills, Retrieved from: https://www.cbpp.org/research/house-passed-and-senate-health-bills-reduce-deficit-slow-health-care-costs-and-include. [Retrieved on: 23.3.2022]
Lee, Y., Mozaffarian, D., Sy, S., Huang, Y., Liu, J., Wilde, P. E., … & Micha, R. (2019). Cost-effectiveness of financial incentives for improving diet and health through Medicare and Medicaid: A microsimulation study. PLoS medicine, 16(3), 1-61. Retrieved from: https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002761&mod=article_inline
