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The Good News About Obamacare in the June Jobs Report:
“There is some evidence that Obamacare is having other positive impacts on the labor market. One of the striking developments in the recovery has been the incredibly disproportionate share of jobs that went to older workers. This was likely due in part to the fact that older workers would have an especially hard time paying for insurance in the individual market and therefore were to desperate to get and keep jobs that provided insurance. Obamacare now gives older workers the option to buy more affordable insurance on the exchanges. This may lead many to retire early.”
Each year, America’s seniors and their doctors wait and watch while a flawed formula passed by Congress more than a decade ago threatens double-digit cuts to Medicare physicians. This Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula is clearly inadequate, and today’s House and Senate Committee votes to repeal it mark an important first step to improve Medicare payments to doctors while preserving seniors’ access to their trusted physicians. Replacing the current volume-based payment system with one that bases payments on the quality and efficiency of care is good news for seniors and for the Medicare program overall.
In spite of years and years of doom-and-gloom predictions from conservatives that Obamacare will hurt Medicare, the facts just continue to tell another, very different story. Earlier in the month the annual Medicare Trustees report showed how the ACA continues to extend the program’s solvency.
While a flat line in the medical world is usually bad news…when it comes to health care costs in Medicare, this flat line is a good thing. We reported earlier on the latest Congressional Budget Office forecast for Medicare and why that news is being ignored by Washington’s well-financed anti-entitlement lobby and the fiscal hawks they support in Congress.
The second open enrollment period for the health insurance law kicked off this past weekend to relatively little fanfare. After its highly publicized first round of enrollment, the law isn’t commanding quite as much attention this time around. That’s partly because fewer people are expected to sign up in 2015. And it also may reflect the fact that the general atmosphere surrounding enrollment is different now.
We reported earlier on the latest Congressional Budget Office forecast for Medicare and why that news is being ignored by Washington’s well-financed anti-entitlement lobby and the fiscal hawks they support in Congress.
Today, the New York Times provides even more good news for Medicare and bad news for anti-Social Security and Medicare scolds…
For Medicare patients, hospitalizations can be stressful; even more so when they result in subsequent readmissions to the hospital. While many readmissions cannot and should not be prevented, researchers have found wide variation in hospitals’ readmission rates, suggesting that patients admitted to certain hospitals are more likely to experience readmissions compared to other hospitals.
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
New Report: Hospitals Using Observation Status to Avoid Medicare Fines.
For Medicare patients, hospitalizations can be stressful; even more so when they result in subsequent readmissions to the hospital. While many readmissions cannot and should not be prevented, researchers have found wide variation in hospitals’ readmission rates, suggesting that patients admitted to certain hospitals are more likely to experience readmissions compared to other hospitals.1 A number of studies show that hospitals can engage in several activities to lower their rate of readmissions, such as clarifying patient discharge instructions, coordinating with post-acute care providers and patients’ primary care physicians, and reducing medical complications during patients’ initial hospital stays.2
via Kaiser Health News.
Related Reading:
Election Reaction from NCPSSM President/CEO, Max Richtman
What’s Next for Social Security and Medicare?
“President Obama’s re-election is good news for America’s seniors and their families. Their new Medicare benefits provided through the Affordable Care Act will be preserved, threats to turn Medicare into a voucher plan have been rebuffed, and the voters have made it clear they do not support cutting middle-class benefits to preserve tax cuts for millionaires.
President Obama is right…we are not as divided as our politics suggests…especially when it comes to Social Security and Medicare. Our grassroots voter education campaign heard from citizens throughout the nation who are frustrated with Washington’s inability to protect the middle-class. Outside of the Beltway, there’s been little disagreement about the path we should take going forward. The vast majority of the American people of all ages and political stripes soundly reject the idea that cuts in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be used as bargaining chips in any deficit reduction plan. Putting tax cuts for the wealthy on the table is the right thing to do and shouldn’t be negotiated at the expense of seniors and their families.
Americans do have common hopes and dreams that drove them to re-elect President Obama –key among them are the preservation of the nation’s most successful economic and health security programs.”… Max Richtman, President/CEO, National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
via Entitled to Know.
The good news is, contrary to claims by largely financial writers, Social Security benefits were not cut in this week’s Congressional Budget deal.
via Entitled to Know.