Pros And Cons Of Medicare

No Support for Premium Support Since the its establishment in 1965, Medicare has always enjoyed remarkable favorability and popularity among the American people as a public insurance program. In a poll conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation on the program’s fiftieth anniversary, 77% of individuals responded that Medicare was “very important,” second only to Social Security. While its importance is well acknowledged among the American public, controversy has sparked on the solvency and the affordability of the social insurance program. Empowered by such debate, policymakers have introduced various reforms to replace the Medicare program, with the most notable being the premium support or voucher program. Although the premium support reform,

As mentioned, 77% of individuals polled believed the Medicare was “very important.” This consensus stretches across the political spectrum - in another survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 83% of Democrats, 71% of Independents, and 53% percent of Republicans supported “keeping Medicare as is.” Compared to the recent single digit approval rating for Congress, this widespread consensus seems unachievable in the polarized political climate of the country. Furthermore, the size of Medicare provides intangible benefits to the both its beneficiaries and the private insurance system. If an individual was covered under Medicare, there are countless options the patient can make within the network of numerous doctors and hospitals. With the implementation of a premium support system, beneficiaries would be insured under a private insurance plan and consequently, restricted to the medical networks that accept their specific insurance. Even so, the innovations in payments and health delivery systems pioneered by Medicare has often been adopted by private insurance. One such innovation is the implementation of the prospective payment system in which the payment for the specific service is based on its classification which aims to incentivize hospitals and medical providers to “provide the necessary care in the least expensive manner.” This system was introduced as a method to reduce costs as well as to provide the optimal care for beneficiaries, which is second to profit-seeking companies. Consequently, without Medicare, such innovations to the healthcare system today would not exist - simply because there was no monetary incentive for private companies to improve quality of care for