MEDICARE AND MEDICAID

Medicare and Medicaid

September 19, 2012

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID Question 1.

The introduction of the obligatory medical insurance can expand an access of some groups of population to health care services. The shift of the population part from the system of state financing of public health care services to the system of obligatory medical insurance can help to develop new priorities at the expense of the redistribution of the allocated funds. The insurance model of public health care services represents an attempt to unite the advantages of public health care services regulating the principles of justice, balance and social efficiency, with the advantages of private systems of public health care services. It can lead to the satisfaction of a consumer demand and internal efficiency through a competition. The overall goal of Medicare is health and its preservation. Health is a condition of a full physical, spiritual (mental) and social well-being, but not just an absence of illnesses and physical defects. Health is the highest human value and the main aim of the world health organizations. The health care reform can become the greatest change in the system of public health care services in the USA since 1965, when the Medicare system was created for pensioners and invalids. The means will be spent on the insurance of additionally 31 million of Americans who have not had medical insurance yet and on the creation of the system of the state medical insurance alternatively to the private companies and the introduction of more rigid regulation of insurance companies activities. As a result, 95% of Americans will receive the medical insurance for the first time in the history of the country. The public health care services reform is a key political problem for the present American government. The purposes of the new reform are the same: to make public health care services in the USA universal, accessible to all citizens of the country, and to cut down the joint expenses on medicine which increase year after year.

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Today, the USA spends more for the public health care services than any other developed country, but, nevertheless, ten millions Americans have no access to medicine, and medical debts are the main reason of personal bankruptcies. Besides, such indicators as a state of health and life expectancy of the Americans are much worse than in other countries spending far less money on medical insurance. Medicaid today is the category for elderly people (65 years), blind and disabled people. Medicaid for elderly people includes Community Medicaid, Home Care Medicaid and Nursing Nome Medicaid. At present, Medicaid spends on average about 7.1 billion dollars a year on the maintenance of elderly people in the senile homes. In order to receive such a referral to a senile home, senior people do not need to have money on their banking accounts. Therefore, senior people can live for the expenses of Medicaid. The future requirements for home health care will be fluctuating. In 1997, more than 22.4 million organizations supplied home Medicare for people older 50. Additionally, the financing of free home health care is to be doubled up to 2015. It is obvious that the present system of public health care services in the USA is extremely inefficient, but the goal of the government does not become easier. The suggested reform contradicts the business interests of the insurance and pharmaceutical companies which earn well on the imperfection of the present system. It is possible to assume that the combination of strong mechanisms of state regulation and market elements of management of public health care services (paid services, voluntary and obligatory medical insurance), increase of medical workers wages, the firmness of treaty obligations that the economy of means is not withdrawn but is present in the development of public health care services and financial stimulation of medical workers will promote a substantial improvement of moral atmosphere in public health care establishments, and in the

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quality of medical aid to population. It is necessary to adjust the monitoring system of resources of public health care services and its efficiency on indicators of public health to the implementation of the system of obligatory medical insurance to population; to expand taxes and penalties for the kinds of activities, making a harmful impact on health. Question 2. The Medicaid program is flamed in the White House, Capitol Hill, among medical workers and ordinary Americans - radical and new. The state medical insurance keeping health and saving lives of thousands of needy, sick and elderly people for many years is considered to be an insatiable monster which grows with the unimaginable rates, devastates the federal treasury and moneyboxes of states and attracts every possible - small and large parasite. Medicaid turned into the program of the help to the middle class or even the program promoting the transformation of rather poor people of the middle class. The critics of Medicaid, drawing the frightening picture of various abuses, either ignore or forget the fact that the most part of the programs recipients are the people quite legislative and really relating to the categories of sick, elderly and needy. However, these critics perfectly understand that their furious promotion smoothly affects other Americans - law-abiding, elderly and not healthy. The elderly Americans, who have honestly earned the scanty pensions, can rebel if Medicare covers much less services and medicines for them than Medicaid helping idlers or immigrants who did not work a day in America. Medicaid is the program full of shortcomings and rather ineffective. The federal government spends about 300 billions a year for it, and the governors of states complain that it pushes many other important programs aside. The arrival of Medicare and Medicaid transformed the politics of US health policy (Morone: 2008).

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The future of Medicaid is a middle class program. In 2014, Medicaid plans to expand its services and cover more people. Moreover, all states will have to apply the standard national rights.

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID References

Morone, J., Litman, T., & Robins, L. (2008). Health Politics and Policy. (4th ed.). Clifton Park: Delmar.