What is PNHPs perspective on the Medicare crisis?
Medicare can only be saved by incorporating it in a single payer program that would be very different than the current Medicare program. 1) Medicare benefits need to be greatly upgraded. At present, Medicare covers less than half of the total medical expenses incurred by its beneficiaries. 2) Medicare’s payment policies for physicians, hospitals, home care, rehab, nursing homes and HMOs are all deeply flawed. – Its physician fee schedule is wildly skewed toward specialist care and needlessly complex; it discourages salaried practice. – Its hospital payment system uses per-patient payments rather than global budgeting, and lumps together capital and operating payments – negating any real health planning possibilities. – Its rehab and nursing home payment methods are similarly complex, discourage health planning, and reward institutions willing and able to engage in financial scheming. -The home care payment system burdens nurses with extreme amounts of paperwork, rather than paying home
