Kaiser Health News wrote about The Medicare Wars. Regardless of which party is using Medicare as an issue they will likely accuse the other side of a War on Seniors. A better description than “war” would be scaremongering among politicians to frighten senior voters. KHN chief Washington correspondent Julie Rovner reports politicians use Medicare as a scaremongering issue because it works.
Category: Health Economics & Costs
How the IRA Bill Subsidizes the Rich
The benchmark premium for an exchange plan in Prescott, Arizona, for a family of five with a 60-year-old household head is $50,923 in 2023.
- If that family made $150,000, they would qualify for a subsidy of $38,173.
- If that family made $350,000, they would qualify for a subsidy of $21,173.
- If that family made $500,000, they would qualify for a subsidy of $8,423.
- This family does not lose subsidy eligibility until they make more than $ 599,000.
The projected cost per newly insured is nearly $14,000 a year over the next decade—a high amount that shows that most of the new spending is simply replacing private spending with government spending.
U.S. Health Care System Causes Patient Burnout (and Doctors Too)
Time Magazine discovered that seeing the doctor can be a real pain in the caboose. You aren’t feeling well so you call your doctor’s office. They tell you the next available appointment slot is several weeks away. You wait three weeks and finally present at the doctors’ office, where you wait in a “waiting room” while filling out a mountain of paperwork your doctor should already have. You are led to an exam room where you wait some more. You finally see your physician, whose face is buried in a computer screen. Ten minutes later you’re summarily dismissed and told to get lab work that has been ordered for you. A month later you get the bills (plural). Your appointment lasted only 10 minutes, but your budget will feel the sting for weeks to come. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
States Try to Cap Travel Nurse Wages that Skyrocketed During Covid
During Covid outbreaks nurses willing to relocate for temporary assignments could command a huge premium over their regular wages. Hospitals overwhelmed with patients had little choice but to pay whatever it took to recruit scarce nurses. As I’ve said in the past, hospitals are loath to raise nurses’ pay. They often hire temporary nursing staffing at much higher rates than raise the standard pay to recruit staff nurses. During Covid outbreaks hospitals’ unwillingness to compensate nurses for the heightened risk and heavier workloads caused many to jump ship and join traveling nurse agencies.