At the time of the Affordable Care Act’s passage, many suspicious conspiracy theory proponents suggested the goal of Obamacare was to fail in order to usher in a single-payer program of Medicare-for-All. The theory goes something like this: with nowhere to turn except the government, Americans would finally throw up their hands and acquiesce to government intervention. Seniors purportedly all love their Medicare, so why not expand the program to cover everyone?
Category: Single-Payer/Medicare-for-All
Why Has Medicare Spending Slowed?
Spending per Medicare beneficiary has nearly leveled off over more than a decade.
If Medicare spending had grown the way it had for much of its history, federal spending would have been $3.9 trillion higher since 2011, and deficits would have been more than a quarter larger, according to an Upshot analysis. The difference is more than could be saved by raising the eligibility age for Social Security or converting Medicaid into a block grant, controversial proposals raised by legislators concerned about the federal debt.
CMS to Boost Nursing Home Staffing Requirements to Impossible Levels
Kaiser Health News reported that the Biden Administration is proposing new staffing standards for nursing homes. The new standards were prompted by assumptions that inadequate staffing led to the death of nearly 200,000 nursing home residents from Covid. I’m not convinced these data points are related but that never stopped government officials from using a natural disaster to boost regulations.
Dialysis Should be Patient Centered and More Convenient
End State Renal Disease (ESRD) is the only disease condition that is covered by Medicare regardless of patients’ age. This benefit was passed in 1972. One result of Section 299I of Public Law 92-603 is that Medicare pays for two-third of dialysis patients, down from 87% in 2004. When your kidney function falls by 85% to 90% your kidneys can no longer keep you alive. According to the National Kidney Foundation, the average life expectancy on dialysis is 5 to 10 years, but many people live much longer when their dialysis is tailored to their needs. This often does not happen due to the United States’ mostly one-size-fits-all approach to dialysis, which is not ideal.