Medicare Takes a Big Step Forward (Category: Health Care)
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September 16, 2008 |
4:03 PM
AARP Bulletin has a great article on why Medicare rocks right now.
The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) was passed into law last month, granting new protections and benefits to millions of Medicare recipients. While the media was focused more on the primary aim of MIPPA (which was the 10 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors) and Congress' rejection of President Bush's veto of the legislation, AARP gives us the lowdown on what MIPPA really means for Americans.
Between making many low-income individuals now eligible for Medicare and making mental health care more affordable, this legislation is changing many people's lives. Make sure to check it out.
If you also have a general question about Medicare, you can also check out the Q&As answered by AARP's Ms. Medicare or email her at msmed@aarp.org.
Tags: AARP Bulletin Today, medicare, Ms. Medicare
Comments
Peter Moor says:
I wanted to post to an AARP Medicare forum, but they seem to have fallen into desuetude. So I ended up in blogs, but can't find a way to post anything new. AFAICS, all you can do is comment on someone else's.
Medicare, and indeed all matters medical in the US, are an impenetrable maze of parts A, B, C, D, and medigaps, whatever these might be.
As long-ago immigrant from the UK, until recently in perfect health, I was diagnosed with Type2 diabetes 2 years ago, and therefore only now am waking up to the gobbledygook of healthcare here. And I can't make head or tail of it.
So far, all I've had to pay is a few bucks 'co-payments' here and there. But now it dawns on me; what if I develop something costing 100s of $1000s? The co-payments will be impossible, even with UHC Secure Horizons, (whatever the heck that is. [I have it, but have no idea what it means.])
Technically, I can return to the EU, but practically, I have no connections there anymore. But I'm told by casual on-line friends that as a 69yo senior I'd be given a rent-free flat. And I already know medical care, based on available resources, would also be free. (Well, not so much free as prepaid, for I paid a lot of taxes between 1957 and 1971).
Long and short is this: health care and insurance in the US is a basket-case.
*Please help me get back to the EU, and I promise to take a hard-working Mexican with me.*
10/01/08 6:24 PM