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Senior Citizen Opinions & Analysis
Opinion: Medicare Means Testing a Costly Slip
Senior citizen group supports House bill to repeal
higher Medicare premiums based on income
 By Ralph McCutchen
Note: The following was written by Ralph McCutchen, chairman of the TREA
Senior Citizens League, and first published September 1, 2006.
For the first time since Medicare's creation 41
years ago, seniors will no longer pay the same amount for the same
services. Premium rates for Part B - expected to be announced later this
month by the Department of Health and Human Services for 2007 - now will
be means tested, that is, determined based on income.
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September 11, 2006 - The Department of Health and
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Opinions & Analysis for Seniors |
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As a result, as many as 2.3 million seniors will
have to pay dramatically more for a benefit intended to help protect the
hard-earned assets of these older Americans. In fact, some seniors will
have to bear the burden of as much as 80 percent of the monthly premium
cost by 2009, despite the fact that they've paid the most into the
system through taxes.
Medicare Part B covers medical services vital to
aging Americans - doctors' visits, tests, durable equipment and
outpatient hospital care. Already beneficiaries have seen their premiums
jump from $54 per month in 2002 to $88.50 per month this year.
Starting next year, seniors whose incomes are below
$80,000 can expect to pay at least $98.40 per month, a hike that far
exceeds the rate of Social Security's annual cost-of-living increase.
But over the next 2 1/2 years, as inflation rises and energy costs
continue to soar, eating away at painstakingly built nest eggs, the cost
of premiums will nearly double, triple or even quadruple for seniors
with annual incomes exceeding $80,000 who have, like the rest, planned
and budgeted their retirements. Seniors with incomes of $100,000 a year,
for example, will see their premiums skyrocket 279 percent by 2009.
Although it might seem like a good idea to rescue
an ailing system by having wealthy seniors carry a larger share of the
load, this move will ultimately hurt the most vulnerable members of our
society. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, an
estimated 50,000 seniors - a number that will surely climb in the future
as premiums increase - are expected to drop their Medicare Part B
coverage next year when their premiums go up.
Those seniors are likely the ones without
pre-existing health problems, who find it easiest to qualify - and pay
for - private insurance. Left behind will be the sickest and poorest.
Means testing will save barely three-tenths of 1
percent of Medicare's budget over the next 10 years, according to the
Congressional Budget Office.
With looming budget deficits, it is only logical to
presume that this is just the first group of Medicare recipients that
will be targeted for means testing. Next could be those with $60,000 in
income. Or $40,000. As large numbers in each group opt out, the system
will become increasingly unaffordable to those left behind as premiums
and deductibles soar.
Even more disturbing is how this provision got
passed. There was no conversation with the American people and little
congressional debate.
That's because Part B means testing was not in
either version of the bills originally passed by the House or Senate. A
few key leaders slipped the revision into the massive 2003 Medicare
Modernization Act in a closed session right before the congressional
vote.
Now that the results of that vote are about to take
effect, it's time to pay attention to a law that will cost more than it
saves, one that could lead Medicare to become even more crippled as it
becomes a welfare-like subsidy rather than the health safety net it was
intended to be.
We support Democratic New York Rep. Nita Lowey's
"Medicare Part B Premium Fairness Act," H.R. 5147, which would repeal
means testing, helping to ensure the long-term viability of the system.
Americans should have been part of the debate
before a law that affected so many people was passed. Now we have a
chance to reclaim true equity for one of America's greatest success
stories.
Ralph McCutchen is chairman of TREA Senior
Citizens League, a national nonpartisan senior citizen organization. The
organization's home page is
http://www.tscl.org/index.asp.
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Copyright: SeniorJournal.com |
September
11, 2006 - For the first time since Medicare's creation 41 years
ago, seniors will no longer pay the same amount for the same
services. Premium rates for Part B – which covers doctors' visits,
tests, and outpatient care – will now be determined based on income,
or "means testing".