In the letter, the signers call on policymakers to “preserve and strengthen this program for the next 50 years”.
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As Congress continues its never-ending debate about Obamacare and Arkansas legislators consider alternatives to the private option, two government health care programs marked their 50th anniversaries on Thursday.
“It’s a big day”. Yet enrollment was only project to increase 19 percent, from 8.6 to 10.2 million. But they have served another vital role in our health care system: a catalyst for change. “If we took it out today, it would all go to hell”.
Johnson signed Medicare and Medicaid into law on July 30, 1965, roughly half of Americans 65 and older had no health insurance. After that, deficits are projected to return until Medicare’s Hospital Insurance trust fund is depleted in 2030.
Events marking the 50th anniversary were held in some 70 cities across the country on Thursday. “This is why I continue to fight to protect Medicare and ensure that all Americans can lead healthy and productive lives”.
Nearly one out of three Americans depends on Medicare and Medicaid for needed health care.
Slavitt also moderated a panel discussion featuring Jason Furman, Chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisors; Sister Carol Keehan, President and CEO of the Catholic Health Association of the United States; Nancy A. LeaMond, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, AARP; Diane Rowland, ScD, Executive Vice President of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation; and Steven M. Safyer, MD, President and CEO of Montefiore Health System in the Bronx, NY. The nation’s expenditures for healthcare will comprise 20 percent of the entire nation’s gross domestic product by 2024.
Kathy Stiffler, acting deputy director of the Medical Services Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services, said Michigan had gotten creative over the years in how it structured and administered Medicaid.
On July 1, 1966, Medicare began paying for health-care services for Americans over the age of 65. A quarter of seniors were estimated to have gone without care because of concerns about medical costs.
By providing incentives for providing quality care, as well as implementing value-based payment models, CMS is creating a new standard within the healthcare system.
“The evidence is very preliminary and mixed, so it’s probably too soon to say whether they’re having a major impact”, he said.
Bledsoe, who is a nonvoting member of a legislative task force studying overall health care reform in Arkansas, said policymakers need to improve government efficiency and make sure the benefits are only going to those for whom they’re intended. The Republican budget resolution passed this year would turn Medicare into a voucher program and put insurance companies in charge. “We know the damage that does to seniors in the, frankly, not-so-far future”.
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“There are a few reasons why we think that”, Keehan added. After all, it didn’t take decades for actual Medicare and Medicaid costs to overrun projections. The federal agency that oversees Medicaid recently said the cost of covering people newly eligible for Medicaid was about ,000 more per person than expected. “… It’s a broken bureaucracy”. And it fills the gaps in health coverage that frequently occur in people’s lives and helps them transition through life events that would otherwise leave them uninsured. Twenty-five percent live on incomes below $14,400. “We need to expand Medicare to cover every man, woman, and child”, he told the cheering crowd.
