Understanding Medicare as We Know it Today
If you’ve been following the Democratic debates, you witnessed a somewhat confusing onslaught of arguments involving what may or may not happen to the federal health insurance program known as Medicare that supports seniors today. With terms like “Mediicare for All,” health care exchanges, and the “public option” swirling around in the rhetoric, it’s pretty easy to get lost in the process of trying to understand what health care seniors really have. Perhaps a good starting point in sorting out the details as the run-up to the 2020 election unfolds.might be a brief “tutorial” on Medicare’s component parts as they exist today.
And to provide this update on today’s Medicare program, we point to a post by New York Times national health care correspondent Abby Goodnough in which she outlines the major facets of Medicare. Her article addresses what Medicare covers and does not cover, its cost sharing structures, the mechanics of Advantage plans, the issue of which practitioners do and do not accept Medicare, and the appeal process available in the event of denied claims, Access Ms. Goodnough’s post here…