Question about Medicare 4 all, how would it cost more than the current system?

[ismnotwasm]

29. First, we need more providers

Last edited Mon Aug 20, 2018, 08:05 PM - Edit history (1)

A lot more. Second, as you point out, healthcare Is more than going to the doctor. There is durable medical equipment. There are Drugs. There is homehealth. There is hospice. There is preventative care education and screening. There are therapies. Medicare as it is right now does NOT pay for everything a quality healthcare plan would provide. Its great that’s your experience is good, but I work in a hospital where we take in underserved population, and fighting Medicare is for needed drugs and therapies is a constant battle. Need to self cath to pee? Medicare pays for only a certain number of catheters a month. Have an ostomy or illiostomy? Medicate only provides a certain number of bags a month. Need a electric wheelchair? You get one every 5 years regardless of circumstances


Another thing to consider is where drugs are manufactured, not just negotiated prices. Right now the US is going through critical shortages of things like opioids and electrolytes. We’ve outsourced a lot manufacturing and when Puerto Rico got hit so did our health care system. I have zero answers for this.

Cost and quality should go hand in hand. Medicare upgraded their coding systems and started bundling care. For instance, if you go to get a hip replacement, Medicare will reimburse just so much. Hospitals eat a lot of cost as it is right now.

I’m all for a single payer system, starting with a public option. I hope we get there and soon. But I do wish people stopped presenting it as less complex than it is.