Vol. 74/No. 38      October 11, 2010

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals will be cut 30 percent over the next three years, according to the Annual Report of the Medicare Board of Trustees. As a result, more physicians and hospitals will stop taking Medicare patients.

Over the next 10 years the legislation projects cutting $1.05 trillion from Medicare hospital insurance and doctor fees. The figure rises to nearly $5 trillion over the next 20 years, according to a September 9 Wall Street Journal column by Peter Ferrar of the Institute for Policy Innovation and Larry Hunger, president of the Social Security Institute.

Private insurance Medicare Advantage programs, which pay some expenses that Medicare does not cover, will also be slashed. One-fourth of those eligible for Medicare have signed on to these insurance programs.

The new health law also empowers the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board to make additional cuts “that would become effective without any congressional action,” notes the Journal article.

Medicare was enacted as a result of victories won during the mobilizations for civil rights led by Black workers in the 1950s and 1960s. The program provides government subsidized health care for the elderly and permanently disabled. Over the past several decades capitalist politicians have been steadily whittling away these social gains. The new projected cuts will slash much more. They also fit in with the president’s promise that the health “reform” law would actually lower the federal deficit.

Six months after the bill’s passage several of its provisions are taking effect. These include: children can stay on their parent’s plan until age 26; insurance companies are forbidden to deny coverage to children with preexisting conditions; and new health plans must offer preventive services such as mammograms and colon cancer screenings without charging a deductible or copayment.

In response, many insurance companies are raising premium rates. Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Oregon, for example, has announced a 17 percent increase for some policies.

Meanwhile, the number of workers filing for Social Security disability benefits has risen sharply, up 21 percent from 2008 to 2009, reported the Washington Post. The average age of new recipients is 49. Many workers keep working despite injuries in order to hold onto their jobs. But with millions thrown out of work over the past several years, injured workers have a harder time getting hired. Some are fighting for disability coverage in order to have an income. They receive health insurance through Medicare after being on the disability rolls for two years.  
 
 
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