Medicare and Wealth

Paper Summary:

This paper is based on the premise that wealth, not regulation, determines the quality of health care available in the United States. The paper uses the example of the inequality of the Medicare program to illustrate this point of view.

From the Paper:

"The Medicare Program does not currently provide a comprehensive package to people over 65. They must resort to supplemental health plans and health maintenance organizations to meet their needs. To do this one must have money. The Wall Street Journal, in their What's News section explains, Americans eligible for Medicare should see new supplemental insurance options and benefits emerge by spring. (2003, Nov. 28. front page). Understand, these options are not being provided by Medicare, but by supplemental insurance companies. This means that if one can afford a supplement or choose to switch their Medicare benefits to a Health Maintenance Organization, they could see an improvement in benefits. Medicare is not changing, but how they pay managed care companies is. The hope that the managed care companies will translate the change into increased benefits is not a guarantee."

More papers on Medicare and Wealth:

• Essay # 65441 : "Health vs. Wealth"
• Term Paper # 131762 : "The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid"
• Research Paper # 92711 : "Debt Elimination and Wealth Accumulation"

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