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Do medicare plans cover Coronavirus tests and treatments?
Do medicare plans cover Coronavirus? The brief answer is YES. Medicare plans do cover coronavirus (COVID-19) tests and treatment. Covid-19 lab tests and the costs of hospitalization are covered by Medicare Part A and Medicare Part B. Lab tests are ‘free’. There will be zero out of pocket expenses, co-pays or co-insurance, for the test itself or relevant office visits. Treatment is a separate issue and will generally be subject to the terms of your personal plan health insurance.
If there are dependent children (below age 16) in the household they will be covered by CHIP and, subject to your State legislation, eligible for free testing and treatment.
Citizens on Medicaid should check with their local benefits office. States must meet the conditions described above but many are more generous.
If you have the three symptoms of COVID-19
- New (dry) continuous cough
- High temperature
- Breathing difficulty
you should call your provider (virtual check-in, SEE SECTION, TELEHEALTH below). DO NOT visit without an appointment. DO NOT travel by public transport.
If you have a MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PLAN you have access to COVID-19 lab tests and medically necessary hospitalizations, but you should check with your plan provider about coverage and costs.
TO SUMMARIZE
Medicare coverage includes: –
- Tests for COVID-19: You pay no out-of-pocket costs. The coverage applies both to the test itself and to the visit in which the test was administered
- Medically necessary hospitalizations. This includes hospital stays which are extended because you have been diagnosed with COVID-19 and might otherwise have been discharged from the hospital following a prior inpatient stay.
- All Medicare Prescription Drug Plans (Part D) will cover the cost of anti-viral treatment (injections) when a viable vaccine has been approved.
Medicare Advantage plans offer the same benefits but you should check the terms of your plan with your insurers. Advantage plans may offer additional telehealth benefits beyond the ones described above. Check with your plan about your coverage and costs.
Advantage plans are permitted to waive cost-sharing for COVID-19 lab tests.
The Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed through the House and Senate on March 18th. The act extends coronavirus coverage for free testing to Medicaid beneficiaries and group health insurance plans.
Estimates suggest (The American Action Forum) that the federal government is committing approximately $1.3 billion in federal healthcare spending for testing and around $56.3 billion for other Medicaid costs.
This gives a clear indication of the value of your Medicare card to you AND to would-be fraudsters. The COVID-19 scare will only heighten the threat of opportunistic or planned misuse. You should treat it with same respect and level of security as your credit cards.
Telehealth & related services [drawn from Medicare.gov, Medicare and Coronavirus]:
In response to the unprecedented demand for medical services, Medicare has temporarily expanded its coverage of telehealth services. “These services expand the current telehealth covered services, to help you have access from more places (including your home), with a wider range of communication tools (including smartphones), to interact with a range of providers (such as doctors, nurse practitioners, clinical psychologists, and licensed clinical social worker). During this time, you will be able to receive a specific set of services through telehealth including evaluation and management visits (common office visits), mental health counseling and preventive health screenings. This will help ensure you are able to visit with your doctor from your home, without having to go to a doctor’s office or hospital, which puts you and others at risk of exposure to COVID-19”.
FINALLY, we remind you that a test for COVID-19 infection which gives a negative result does NOT MEAN that you are immune from the disease nor does it convey any immunity.
You must continue to observe the SOCIAL DISTANCING (see our article on Social Distancing, Quarantine and Islocation) regulations, maintain high standards of personal and environmental HYGIENE, and the levels of ISOLATION appropriate to your household.
Read our article on COVID-19 by taking care of yourself you are taking care of all of us?
Can Elizabeth Warren really reduce health care costs?
“and millions more Americans will have the choice to ditch their private insurance and enter a high-quality public plan” Elizabeth Warren (Warren for President, January 2020)
Does Elizabeth Warren have a health care policy that can build on the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? Can she use the provisions of the Medicare and Medicaid platforms to make the health care dollar go further?
Is Medicare for all an affordable option?
Healthcare costs are a major concern for the American voter. After 10 years of the ACA, 55% of the general public take a favorable view of the act (85% among Democrats) and even Republican voters are less inclined to repeal the ACA; they rate opposition to the ‘single payer’ approach (Medicare for all) more highly [KFC tracking poll Feb 2020].
This article looks at the Warren proposals in three steps.
- How much do we pay now and what do we get?
- What are the inefficiencies and weaknesses of the existing system?
- What does Elizabeth Warren propose?
Firstly,
How much do we pay?
Most of us are insured through our employers. Even with sponsorship the ‘average’ family of four pays over $12,500 (employee insurance contributions and out-of-pocket expenses). Self-employed and other self-insured individuals will pay rather more. Out of taxation the states and Federal Government spend another three trillion dollars.
In total, as a nation, we spend almost one dollar in five on health care. This is nearly 2x the contribution made by other leading developed countries to their population’s healthcare.
What do we get?
Despite the investment in health care, the current health care system delivers worse health outcomes than that in comparable developed countries. Average longevity for both men and women and infant mortality are key examples.
At the same time, under the current system 28.5% of Americans have no health insurance at all (U.S. Census Bureau) and another 41% are under insured (The Commonwealth Fund). Two out of three bankruptcies in the US (approximately 500,000 families p.a.) are on account of medical problems (American Journal of Public Health).
Secondly
What are the inefficiencies?
There are some 1,000 health insurance companies in the USA. Of these, the top ten account for 50+% of the revenue and the top 100 approximately 95%. In itself this is not unusual in a commercial market subject to normal market forces and where the customer has freedom of choice. When it comes to health, very few of us choose to be ill!
There are two major aspects of this which inherently affect the premium cost of coverage.
- By having so many insurers in the market individual companies (carriers) spread their risks across a smaller pool of customers and therefore need to charge more in premiums
- Providers (Doctors, Hospitals, Specialists, Carers and Pharmacists for example) are faced with vast administrative problems in dealing with multiple payers (the insurers). As a consequence, the cost of administration within the current US health care system is put at 8%. By comparison similar countries spend 2%.
What are the weaknesses?
The intention of The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was to make health care affordable and accessible by all Americans. History and events have demonstrated just how hard this is. At one extreme we have “if you can’t pay, I can’t treat you” and at the other extreme “Yes I can treat you AND you don’t need to worry about the bill”.
In today’s political environment neither extreme is realistic. But in reaching for an acceptable (affordable) solution we have arrived at a compromise that which is NEITHER affordable, NOR universally available.
- Approximately 50% of healthcare funding is paid for by consumers (you and me) through insurance premiums paid to (profit-making) insurance companies
- The other 50%, paid for (indirectly by us) from taxes, is spent by the government, on our behalf, on subsidies, on medications, and on Medicaid
- The ‘networks’ intended to provide competitive medical treatment, care and medication actually limit choice and create opportunities for ‘balance’ and ‘surprise’ billing
- There is little or no control over the prices of medications (prescription drugs) charged by pharmaceutical companies. Some drugs are 3x more expensive in the US than in Canada. The US spends 1.5‑3x as much on prescription drugs as other high-income countries and between 1.4-2.5x on general physicians’ average salaries (Journal of American Medical Association, JAMA).
Thirdly,
What does Elizabeth Warren propose?
Warren makes no secret of her intention to introduce a ‘Medicare for all’ solution. She argues that a ‘single-payer’ non-profit-making insurer, i.e. the government, can more efficiently administrate a Universal Health Care Program.
Her calculations suggest she can achieve her goals by reigning in the profits of insurance companies, the profits of the ‘pharmas’ and eliminating up to 80% of the administrative overhead.
In her manifesto, Warren promises that in the first year of her presidency she will establish a government-run ‘Medicare for All’ option to challenge the existing privately-run schemes. She leaves the choice with the consumer, confident that over time they will opt for the flexibility and value that an all-inclusive Medicare program can offer.
By the end of her “first term” Warren plans “critical health system reforms to save money and save lives”. Her aim is to complete a full transition to ‘Medicare for all’!
Whatever her convictions, Warren will need to convince her own party and then the Left, Right and Centre in Congress and in the Senate if she is to put them into practice
Read about: Bernie Sanders Medicare for all Explained
Read about: Pete Buttigieg’s healthcare plan
Medicare for all who want it: Pete Buttigieg’s healthcare plan
Healthcare policy was the central issue during the 2018 mid-term elections which led to the democrats winning a majority in the House of Representatives. Among the leaders in the race for nomination for the democratic candidacy the common theme is, ‘affordable healthcare’. The reason is clear. 95% of Americans say Medicare is important to them! And no wonder. Approximately 18% of the American Gross Domestic Product (GDP – the value of all the goods and services produced each year) is spent, either by us or by the government, on HEALTHCARE.
Every candidate has endorsed their own distinct health care policy. Bernie Sanders ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL’ is based on a ‘single payer’ concept which would abandon private health insurance plans altogether. Mike Bloomberg espouses the concept of a PUBLIC HEALTH INSURANCE option run by the government to compete with private insurers and set standards in terms of both cost and effectiveness.
Pete Buttigieg’s healthcare policy has as its ultimate goal ‘universal coverage’, an aim he shares with Sanders. But Buttigieg’s approach is to expand Medicare access to ‘All Who Want It’ (it is currently only available to seniors, and adults with defined chronical conditions).
Buttigieg’s plan for expanding healthcare coverage through Medicare would begin by extending the public insurance option to: –
- Low-income individuals in states that have refused to expand Medicaid
- Individuals who forgo (sponsored) employer coverage because it is too expensive
- Middle-income individuals and families, uninsured because of cost. The intention is to offer subsidies on plans purchased either through the market place or the public option.
The Buttigieg healthcare policy will require drastic changes to the way in which the country divides the spend on funding the health of the nation. On our behalf the federal and state governments spend around $1.5 trillion (Medicare, Medicaid, other insurance programs, and subsidies). We, the public, spend nearly as much again on co-insurances, co-pays, and deductibles. In total, as nation we spend 18% of our income on healthcare.
It is no wonder that ‘would be’ presidents devote so much of their time considering how to spend it and in persuading us that they have the best healthcare policy.
They do have a common goal: to provide accessible health care and consistent high standards of service to the whole US nation. The word ‘accessible’ is a term which embraces both ‘affordability’ and the ‘geographic’ availability of the necessary services.
The questions is how?
We, the American nation, pay almost 2x the average among the top ten developed nations for our healthcare and on most measures our outcomes are less favorable. We are neither more efficient nor more effective.
What are the solutions?
BERNIE SANDERS would introduce a universal program called ‘Medicare for all’ under which the benefits provided by Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, Medicare Part C and Medicare Part D are combined in a single all-embracing healthcare policy called Medicare For All. Implicit in this healthcare policy is the concept of ‘the single payer’ i.e. the federal (state) government. He argues that this will reduce the inefficiency of having multiple payers (the insurance companies) and multiple suppliers (the health care providers). It would also reduce/eliminate the role of the health insurance exchanges. Sanders wants to achieve this in single step. Most healthcare policy analysts, even those sympathetic to the concept, agree that to move from the current mix of public/private funding would be hugely disruptive.
Read more: Bernie Sanders Medicare for all explained
MIKE BLOOMBERG answers the same questions. He sees value in private insurance and in the need for the security that public funding gives to disadvantaged members of society. He offers to deliver a Medicare level of service provision through an Affordable Healthcare Plan. This plan would be run by the Federal Government with premiums restricted to 8.5% of household income. His plan will be optional. Those who wish to remain privately insured may do so. Bloomberg expects the cost of private insurance to decrease in the face of a major competitor in the market. Bloomberg offers a long term and sustainable choice for the individual to choose one, the other or a combination.
Read more: Mike Bloomberg’s Affordable Healthcare plan
PETE BUTTIGIEG, like Bernie Sanders, sees Health Care as a right. He has a long-term aim to move from private insurance to solely government-funded programs. His approach is to offer the option of getting coverage though ‘a public insurance’ alternative. In this way, Buttigieg hopes that if plans available to you from your employer or on the market place are unaffordable you can choose ‘the public insurance’ alternative and find a plan that is affordable. He distinguishes his position with the slogan ‘Medicare for all who want it’. He makes no secret of the fact that he expects sustained competition from the public insurance ‘alternative’ to result in a ‘Medicare for all’ outcome. He makes no prediction as to how long this will take.
THE THREE FRONTLINE CONTENDERS for the Democratic nomination plan to put constraints on the price of branded drugs, and to eliminate the exposure to high costs of unexpected medical bills from out of network providers such as anesthetists and ambulance services. In doing so they will have to battle not only with the House and the Senate but also with the reluctance of the pharmaceutical industry to adapt to new market forces and the task of re-orienting the focus of a workforce numbering 16 million.
Mike Bloomberg’s
Affordable healthcare plan
Just recently the TrueCoverage team wrote an article ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL EXPLAINED’ and concluded that while the Democratic party had a distinctly different approach to funding national healthcare from the Republicans, they had yet to find ‘a policy which values enterprise and recognizes that the demand for ANYTHING FREE is infinite.’ In this article, we consider Mike Bloomberg’s stand on ACA and his vision of an affordable healthcare plan.
Whereas Sanders talks of ‘Medicare for all’ Bloomberg’s idea is to introduce an affordable healthcare plan, federally run, as a public option alongside the privately insured ACA. Read about Bernie Sanders take on Medicare for all: Read more
The public insurance option would be aimed initially at the uninsured and low-income families in states which have not expanded Medicaid under ACA.
Mike Bloomberg’s ‘affordable healthcare plan’ can be described as having three objectives. They are to: –
- Extend coverage to those who cannot afford now afford it
- Widen the range of health services
- Reduce/control prices and charges for treatment and medication.
Extend the coverage
The public health insurance (PHI) option would be administered by the federal government (not for profit) but paid for by customer premiums. The same tax reliefs and subsidies would apply as for plans bought on the health insurance exchanges. Individuals would be allowed to keep their private insurances.
At the same time some of Bloomberg’s ‘health care price capping’ and ‘cost control’ initiatives would make ACA compliant plans more affordable and increase the uptake of private health insurance. Currently, approximately 28 million Americans do not have health insurance and a further 41 million are thought to be under-insured.
Some counties do not have full (or any) health insurance coverage. Mike Bloomberg’s stand on ACA would remove this injustice by bringing PHI to the market place.
Widen the range of services
Approximately 30% of US citizens do not visit their dentist regularly, nor do they seek preventative care for hearing and vision. Bloomberg intends to include these as Medicare options and for all states to include oral health services for all adults in the ‘Medicaid’ program.
Reduce/control prices and charges
It is generally agreed that the cost of providing healthcare in the USA is too high (nearly 2x that of other developed countries). The evidence suggests that in many areas (for instance, life expectancy and infant mortality) the outcomes are worse than in other advanced nations.
Extending coverage and widening the range of services are not, in themselves, going to reduce the cost of treatment and care. They should, of course, improve overall outcomes, e.g. life expectancy and infant mortality.
Bloomberg’s approach is to ‘cap’ individual’s premiums to 8.5% of household income. This may be good news to us as individuals but will make additional demands on federal taxes.
He proposes various other caps. For example, on out-of-network charges and most significantly, on the price of medications including prescription drugs. Bloomberg’s affordable healthcare plan would restrict US drug prices to 120% of the average price charged in other advanced nations. To illustrate the problem, some prescription drugs are available in Canada for approximately 30% of the cost of the same drug in the USA. This may be good news for the US citizen with a chronic need but could have a huge revenue/profit impact on major US pharmaceutical companies.
The main influence on our choice of drugs is the pharmacist who fills our prescription. Bloomberg proposes to ban payments to pharmacists by drug companies seeking to obtain preferential treatment. No one should be incentivized to persuade us to buy a branded drug when the generic alternative is just as effective.
As we describe, Bloomberg offers a range of ideas to promote competition and efficiency while maintaining the ethical standards of Medicare, Medicaid and the ACA.
One further idea is to create a permanent reinsurance program. This is common practice in most areas of insurance. It encourages insurers to insure themselves, i.e. spread their risk of having to meet extreme claims. This would enable them to reduce premiums to their clients: Bloomberg claims by 10%.
Bloomberg vs Trump
No one seriously argues that the US health care system is either more efficient or more effective in terms of outcomes than health care systems in other advanced countries.
Efficiency
- The US spends 17-18% of its GDP on health care while the average developed country spend is 8-9%.
Effectiveness
- Access to care, the US score lower than other developed countries on the following measures: –
- Practicing doctors -19% per person
- Practicing nurses -25% ~
- Acute beds -26% ~
Coverage
- In the US 10% of all Americans have no Health Insurance coverage compared with 99-100% coverage in the ten other countries in a recent JAMA study.
Donald Trump takes a laissez faire approach, reckoning that market forces will eventually determine a health care system where demand is met at an affordable price without the intervention of the federal government and minimal involvement of individual states.
The single payer system proposed by Sanders is entirely at odds with Republican ideology and is indeed not widely endorsed by his own party. It would involve the complete dismemberment of existing structures.
In broad terms we devote some $3.5 trillion on the US health care system ($ spent either directly by us as individuals or indirectly through federal and state taxes). About 16 million people are employed within the system and millions more in supporting industries, such as pharmaceuticals and insurance.
Bloomberg’s proposals deserve consideration for their recognition of the multi-dimensional nature of the problems health care faces and the need to build on existing structures for the benefit of the whole nation.
Is pain management covered by health insurance?
What are the risks of long term opioid treatment?
Medicare Part A/Part B or Part C Advantage with Drugs coverage or Medicare Part D drugs coverage ensure that prescribed pain management care while part of a medical procedure is included in your plan.
Among the drugs available to you on prescription as part of your pain management treatment, and covered by your health insurance plan, will be a group of drugs categorized as opioids.
Sooner or later any of us could face the need for pain deadening treatment. It is important to understand the dilemma that opioids present.
All opioids come with a Doctor’s warning and all medications come with the financial impact of co-pays, co-insurances and out of pocket limits. Most health insurance plans have annual or lifetime limits which include ‘pain relievers’.
If you are reading this article it is probable that you are concerned, either for yourself or for a loved one, about the impact that opioid dependency is having. ACA compliant health insurance plans, Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicare Part D will help with the financial implications but will not resolve the long term inter-personal issues.
Pain management care
Let us be clear, Opioids are very good at what they are prescribed for i.e. pain relief. They are also highly addictive.
There are alternatives!
But first, we consider the risks of opioid treatment.
In fact, the longer you take an opioid medication the greater the risk of addiction. For just this reason, first prescriptions have been limited to 7 days’ supply (since 2019). The evidence suggests that 20% of patients are at an increased risk of opioid addiction after as few as ten days of use. So rapidly can a relief become a dependency?
Of course, opioids are a valid source of pain relief especially for acute pain i.e. pain caused by trauma or surgery. These are pains which diminish or disappear with recovery (typically 3-7 days). It[d1] is important to cease medication as soon as the pain is manageable or to discuss the alternatives with your physician.
One of the recurring examples of acute pain is associated with dental treatment, an extraction for example. An opioid is often the most effective painkiller and dental surgery often the first introduction to their addictive effects.
What is addiction?
Addiction is the third stage of an individual’s response to the extended use of a drug(s).
The first stage is ‘tolerance’. An individual’s response to a drug changes over time and in general, even after a few days, a higher dosage is required to achieve the same effect.
The second stage is ‘dependence’. Opioids in particular, stimulate the excess production of dopamine, the ‘reward’ hormone. As the brain adjusts it requires more opioid to feel the same effect, commonly experienced as euphoria. Dependence is when the individual requires the drug, not necessarily to relieve pain but in order to feel ‘normal’.
The third stage ‘addiction’ is when an individual continues to use the drug despite knowing the harmful consequences, whether on their health, social engagement or financial situation.
Read more about OPIOID Crisis and Addiction
What is an Opioid?
An opioid is a strong pain deadening medicine either produced naturally from the opium found in poppies or artificially using the same chemical structure.
Opioids act by limiting the ‘pain signals’ from the pain ‘site’ to the brain. This is, of course, the beneficial intention of the medication. There are, however, significant side effects. Opioids can cause slowed breathing, confusion, and euphoria (the feeling of reward often described as feeling ‘a little high’) and it is this that makes it easy to want ‘more’.
Common prescription opioids
- Morphine
- Oxycontin
- Percocet
- Fentanyl
- Hydrocone
- Codeine
There others, and it is wise to consult your doctor but you can check on-line if your medication contains an opioid.
Pain management treatment options
- Medication
- ask your doctor about non-opioid pain relievers. The first step is to reduce the dependence on opioids, preferably to zero
- Exercise and Nutrition
- Specific exercises can increase your range of motion and help to stretch and strengthen muscles
- Eating fresh foods, avoiding caffeine, and following an anti-inflammatory diet can reduce the side effects of reducing opioid dependency.
It may also take a little bit of experimenting to discover which options work best for your individual needs.
However, before beginning an exercise program you should always consult your doctor or qualified physiotherapist. Specific exercises that may help you should be appropriate to your personal circumstances.
Making dietary changes related to the type of pain you experience may help you manage some of your symptoms. There may be very specific instructions for your condition (such as eating a gluten-free diet to manage pain associated with celiac disease).
Finally, Many of the major health insurers have programs to assist opioid dependent clients and others seeking chronic (long-term) pain relief. E.g. Pain management clinics.
If you or someone you care for is seeking advice/support they should contact their healthcare plan provider. If your provider does not have a suitable program e.g. a pain management clinic, contact your Health Insurance Exchange. They can direct you to the providers best able to meet your pain management treatment needs. Even if you switch to a 5* plan this will almost certainly be a good investment.
Bernie Sanders Medicare for all explained
‘Health care as a human right’ is a key plank in Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign for the nomination as Democratic candidate for the presidency of the USA in the fall.
If he were to win his way to the White House, we can expect Bernie Sanders’ proposal ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL’ to be his flagship program.
So, first, what is ‘Medicare for all’ and why should we need it?
Medicare is a federal health insurance program for US citizens from the age of 65 and is funded from taxation (personal and corporate) and payroll deductions. Low-income families are covered by the federal and state programs Medicaid and the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). For more detail see Medicare.gov. Read about Medicare Advantage Plans 2020 in our blog.
From age 26–65 all US citizens are obliged to have a health insurance plan that meets the minimum requirements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). These are ‘private plans’ and maybe individual, family or group (normally employer-sponsored).
These are the programs that Bernie Sanders is seeking to replace with a single umbrella program embracing the elements Medicare Part A, Medicare Part B, Medicare Part C, Medicare Part D in a single all-embracing program, ‘MEDICARE FOR ALL’.
Some of his rivals for the presidential candidacy want to continue the personal choice offered by Medicare Advantage plans.
WHY is Bernie Sanders’ campaign 2020 so focused on Medicare for All?
Primarily because ‘Health’, whichever side of the fence you are on, it is a fundamental concern for all Americans (95% say Medicare is important to the country as a whole) and because it is a clear ‘single-issue’ which distinguishes the left from the right in the House of Congress and in the Senate.
What is it about the existing system that so concerns Bernie Sanders? He cites: –
- The effect on those sections of the population least able to insulate themselves from the financial impact of medical or care expenses
- The high cost of administrating an over-complex system of service provision and cost allocation
- The disproportionately high cost of medical treatment, medications (including prescription drugs) and care
- The ‘excess’ profits made by the big pharmaceutical companies
His evidence: –
Under the existing system, there are approximately 28.5 million Americans who have no insurance coverage (U.S. Census Bureau).
It seems probable that up to 41 million Americans are underinsured and do not have health insurance coverage to meet the cost of traumatic medical treatment or long-term medication.
Over 60% of bankruptcies, (more than 500,000 families) are attributable in whole or in part to medical problems (American Journal of Public Health).
Some facts about Healthcare status in USA: –
In 2016, the health expenditure per capita in the US was $9,870 (W0rld Health Organization, WHO). In the same report, the equivalent figures for Canada were $4,453 and the UK $3,958.
In the same year, 2016, the US spent 17.7% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on Healthcare (WHO). The equivalent figures for Canada were 10.53% and UK 9.76%.
One contributor to these extreme differences is the usage of prescription drugs. The US spends over 1.5 to 3 times as much on prescription drug costs as other developed countries, (Journal of the American Medical Association, JAMA). Read more about Prescription Drugs Plan Enrollment Medicare (Part D)
Another is the complex administration required to ensure that millions of health insurance claims are correctly processed and payments made to thousands of providers. Administrative overheads are estimated to absorb 8% of the total healthcare budget. The developed country average is about 2%.
Although he has long campaigned for a ‘single-payer’ national health insurance program to provide everyone in America (sic) with comprehensive healthcare coverage free at the point of service (Health Care as a Human Right, Bernie Sanders 2020) Bernie Sanders 2020 campaign has adopted the less contentious catch-phrase ‘Medicare for all’.
He goes on to say
- No networks, premiums, deductibles, co-pays, no surprise bills
- Medicare will be expanded to include: dental, vision, and home and community-based long-term care, in-patient and out-patient services, mental health and substance abuse treatment, reproductive and maternity care, prescription drugs and more
- Stop the pharmaceutical industry from ‘ripping off ’ the American people by making sure that no one in America (sic) pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs under ‘Medicare for All’.
How much would ‘Medicare for all’ plans cost’
Let’s start with the current cost. There is a common agreement that the current government contribution to Medicare, Medicaid, and other health insurance programs is in the region of $1.3-1.4 trillion.
Estimates for the ‘Medicare for all’ plan cost and the premises on which they are based vary. Sanders himself (drawing on) Friedman (University of Massachusetts) claims the additional cost would be $1.3 billion. At the other extreme, a 2016 report from the Urban Institute suggests that the annual additional cost of the Medicare for all program might amount to $3.2 trillion.
There is no doubting the Democratic party’s resolve to obtain the most favorable outcomes from the nation’s investment both public and private, in the healthcare of its population. To convince their constituents, they must have a policy that values enterprise and recognizes that the demand for anything ‘FREE’ is infinite.
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- You want to select a catastrophic health plan.
- You want to enroll members of your household in separate QHPs.
- The plans offered here don’t offer pediatric dental coverage and you want to choose a QHP that covers pediatric dental services or a separate dental plan with pediatric coverage. Pediatric dental services are an essential health benefit.
TrueCoverage offers the opportunity to enroll in either QHPs and off-Marketplace coverage. Please visit HealthCare.gov for information on the benefits of enrolling in a QHP. Off-Marketplace coverage is not eligible for the cost savings offered for coverage through the Marketplaces.
If you’d like assistance in another language please dial 1-888-505-1815
If you are visually impaired, please visit the Federal Marketplace.