To the Editor:
As a senior citizen, I am very worried that Medicare is under attack in two different ways.
First, the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Rep.Tom Price, is in favor of introducing
“balance billing” into Medicare. At the moment, Medicare sets a limit on what should be charged for
various services and procedures. This has the effect of establishing “fair pricing” and slowing the rate
of increase in health care costs overall. When you get a statement from your insurer, there is always a
difference between what was originally charged by the doctor or hospital, and the amount paid by the
insurance. Depending on the arrangement between the insurer and the provider, you may or may not be
liable for the difference. With Medicare as it is, you are not liable for the balance between covered
payment and the total. Balance billing will make you liable to pay the difference no matter how much it
is.
Second, Price is in favor of the plan put forward by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, which would replace
the single payer system of Medicare as it is now, with a voucher supplied by the government to seniors.
We seniors would then have to take the voucher and look for a private insurance company that we could
afford using the voucher plus the additional cost of the premiums. Of course, this additional cost will
come out of our pockets.
One reason that Medicare was introduced in 1966 was because health insurance premiums for older people
were beyond the reach of many seniors. Being over 65 is, in fact, a pre-existing condition, and as a
group we do have more health care issues than younger people. I have read that the insurance companies
were
OK with losing us as customers because we weren’t very profitable for them. Instead, Medicare is run by
the government, which operates at much lower overhead and no need for profit. During our working years
we pay into Medicare, along with Social Security, through our payroll taxes so that in retirement we
have the security of affordable health care insurance. I sincerely hope that this arrangement continues,
both for seniors currently in Medicare and for our children and grandchildren.
Lynn Deters
Bowling Green