Don't forget about Medicare covering the SSI disabled which is also a very expensive population.
One issue I have with more Medicare is the customer service or getting help with billing issues. By and large, my MIL and FIL have had very few issues come up. But when they did...OMG, what a nightmare. You have to call different service centers depending on whether it is A or B coverage, those two don't communicate, have different requirements, etc. Oy. Phone trees to get any where and wait times so long that the answering system will just hang up on you if the queue is too backed up. I think that is among the reasons that the administrative costs are so low (certainly not the only reason) and nothing to aspire to. (ETA: I mean to say the issue I have with holding Medicare as an example of low administrative costs for delivering healthcare, not specifically adding people to it).
I heard today on the radio that it looks like this insurance reform will not be completed by the end of August because of the Senate. Personally, I think this is great not because it shouldn't happen but because it is a lot of change that also costs a lot of money. Some time to sort it out seems like a good idea. I don't think it will make an appreciable difference, in a bad way, if that happens in the next 4 weeks versus the next 4 months.
One issue I have with more Medicare is the customer service or getting help with billing issues. By and large, my MIL and FIL have had very few issues come up. But when they did...OMG, what a nightmare. You have to call different service centers depending on whether it is A or B coverage, those two don't communicate, have different requirements, etc. Oy. Phone trees to get any where and wait times so long that the answering system will just hang up on you if the queue is too backed up. I think that is among the reasons that the administrative costs are so low (certainly not the only reason) and nothing to aspire to. (ETA: I mean to say the issue I have with holding Medicare as an example of low administrative costs for delivering healthcare, not specifically adding people to it).
I heard today on the radio that it looks like this insurance reform will not be completed by the end of August because of the Senate. Personally, I think this is great not because it shouldn't happen but because it is a lot of change that also costs a lot of money. Some time to sort it out seems like a good idea. I don't think it will make an appreciable difference, in a bad way, if that happens in the next 4 weeks versus the next 4 months.
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