Medicare The Biggest Cause Of The Deficit? Obama Sounds More Like A ----

[TheMastersNemesis]

Republican on these matters and signals his willingness to raise the age of eligibility and support for the chained CPI. I voted for and supported the Obama campaign in both elections as well as the primary in 2008.

He might publicly say he will NOT bend, but his message is that he will.

When it comes to vital programs for seniors can they expect a pike up the butt politically speaking? What will be up for grabs in the next manufactured crisis?

[patrice]

1. You are assuming that raising the age of eligibility & a CPI are the ONLY things that can bring

Medicare costs down.

How do you think those 2 strategies will play to the 47%? Will they like them or not?

Can you think of nothing else that might bring down Medicare costs?

If you can think of a few things that might help, why do you think we aren't talking about those other cost reducing strategies?

[Fumesucker]

2. As medical technology gets ever more complex it gets ever more expensive

End of life medical treatment is a huge issue that other cultures deal with far more sanely than our own.

Good luck with getting the politicians to talk about that issue, one that drives much of Medicare costs.

[patrice]

5. Health care in general has had long standing human resource issues across the board, not

enough focus, some of us think, where it would do the most good, on direct care givers, who could change the machine-model in some important ways and maybe even redirect it better toward prevention.

And, of course, human resource issues are Labor issues. I say that having stood with the local nurses' union and having listened to what they have to say about what "health" "care" for profit does to staffing ratios.

There's a bunch of stuff that goes on under "risk management" in health care that everyone needs to be more aware of, that is if they can stop screaming about other stuff for a short while.

[dkf]

8. Top 10% of Medicare beneficiaries account for 57% of Medicare spending....

Medicare spending per beneficiary is highly skewed, with the top 10% of beneficiaries in traditional Medicare accounting for 57% of total Medicare spending in 2009—on a per capita basis, more than five times greater than the average across all beneficiaries in traditional Medicare ($55,763 vs. $9,702).

http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/7305-07.pdf

End of life care is the biggie for Medicare.

[patrice]

11. From my perspective, hospital admissions are kind of a CYA in some cases and, then, because

we are talking about elders here, the one-size-fits-all hospital processes and procedures CAN do more harm than good on issues that are entirely un-related to whatever an elder is sent to the hospital in the first place, which, whatever THAT issue was, could be kind of window dressing (CYA) anyway and, then, if there's dementia, well . . . that's staff intensive, which is another issue on top of whatever the care plan is.

[leftstreet]

3. People here talk about strategies all the time

Allowing drug negotiation, enforcing price controls, removing the profit incentive from healthcare

Obama and the Dems aren't talking about those things

[patrice]

7. operative word in this post = "here"

[berni_mccoy]

4. He didn't say that.

He said it was the largest driver of the deficit, meaning medical costs are growing faster than any other cost to the government.

This has been verified by independent fact checkers.

Like it or not, that is the reality we face.

[Harmony Blue]

6. This is true

at some point in the near future some portions of Medicare will be a larger driver to the deficit than Defense spending. We can't avoid this, so we must talk about this seriously now while we can.

[raouldukelives]

10. Indeed. Inflation rates need to be tied to medical, energy & food costs.

We have to start living in reality. Using real numbers or all of our plans are based on fiction.
We still need single payer heath care. Climate change is going to create a a huge need for people to be seen to curtail disease. Disease which will spread if people don't get treatment. Universal care is the only way.

[patrice]

12. Is it okay to say that everything you just said adds up to Labor issues? It's been obvious to me

from the start, but then the EFCA came and went without a blip & now NO ONE talks about the implications of all of this to Labor. Why is that? (Or, other than, only Labor really knows anything about Labor and even then . . . ???) I mean, why is that?

[phleshdef]

9. Medicare is the largest driver of future deficit projections. Deal with reality.

Ignoring that fact is just sheer stupidity. Ignoring that fact actually puts Medicare in danger.

Acknowledging that fact does not mean you are anti-Medicare. Acknowledging that fact does not mean you want to lessen the benefits of Medicare.

We have to do something about the costs of healthcare as a product. We have to do something to ensure long term solvency for Medicare. And there are lots of options to explore that don't include cutting benefits or raising the eligibility age. Regardless something will have to be done about it. If you want our leaders to ignore it and have their heads in the sand about it, then you are advocating a policy approach that will eventually doom Medicare.