Reductions in provider payments are sometimes considered as suitable options for reducing excessive Medicare spending (Medicare Reform Options). Nevertheless, we are deemed to believe that such reductions will also affect the benefits for the elderly, due to decreased spending.

However, Medicare programs for elderly are not only based on free pharmaceuticals or free medical care. Several programs target different affections specific to the elderly population. A Medicare test program, for example, introduced in seven states, was imposed to help senior citizens quit smoking through free therapy (Medicare Targets Elderly Smokers). Nursing homes offer the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE), as an optional benefit under the Medicare and Medicaid programs (http://www.medicare.gov/Nursing/Alternatives/Pace.asp).

Medicare remains a problem today because of an unmatched difference between the need to include prescription drug coverage and free medication into the system and the capacity of the Medicare system to financially sustain such an inclusion. Given the…...

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Bibliography

1. Medicare reform returns to Congress. The Star Ledger. July 2007. On the Internet at   retrieved on July 16, 2007http://www.nj.com/business/ledger/index.ssf?/base/business-7/1183441774140490.xml&coll=1.Last 

2. Medicare Reform Options. June 2007. Medicare Steering Committee of the Health Practice Council. On the Internet at   retrieved on July 16, 2007http://www.actuary.org/pdf/medicare/options_june07.pdf.Last 

3. Medicare Targets Elderly Smokers. November 2002. On the Internet

  retrieved July 16, 2007http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/21/health/main530344.shtml.Last 

It was also interesting to see some of the reforms that are being discussed to help lower costs and that if something is not done now, Americans under the age of 54 probably won't have Medicare when they are ready to retire.
As with many government programs, it seems that Medicare is mired in red tape and not enough money to go around. It seems that people my age will not have any federal funds to fall back on when they are ready to retire if something isn't done, and that our Social Security and Medicare money is going to go to people who are retiring now or in a few years. People in Congress need to work together to reform these social programs before they go broke, and they need to stop fighting about it and just get it done, so Americans that need it the most aren't left…...

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References

Hensarling, J. (22 Feb. 2008). Medicare and entitlements. Retrieved 13 March 2008 from the Washington Times Web site:  http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080222/EDITORIAL/625269691/1013 .

Medicare Health Care eform
The Medicare is an American health program that is administered by the federal government and serves as a health insurance for people aged 65 years and above. The Medicare is also designed for people with disabilities and people diagnosed with the renal disease. (Davis, Cathy, & Stuart, 2013). The Medicare is currently being funded by the premiums, payroll tax, surtax from general revenue. In 2015, over 55 million American enrolled for the Medicare services where 46 million people are people aged 65 years and above and 9 million are young people. On the average, Medicare covers half of the health costs and the enrollees are to cover the remaining costs through a separate insurance, supplemental insurance, or out-of-pocket. Since the inception of the Medicare, the cost of funding the program continues to increase, and the rising costs of funding are becoming unbearable both for the current and…...

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Reference

Blum, J. (2011). Improving Quality, Lowering Costs: The Role of Health Care Delivery System. Center for Medicare Management.

Davis, K. Cathy, S. & Stuart, G. (2013). Medicare Essential: An Option to Promote Better

Care and Curb Spending Growth, Health Affairs 32, no. 5: 901 -- 9.

Golberstein, E. Kayo, W. Yulei, H. et al. (2013). Supplemental Coverage Associated with More Rapid Spending Growth for Medicare Beneficiaries, Health Affairs, 32, no. 5. 873 -- 81.

The Act creates a positive balance between government interests to save money and the interests of Medicare recipients to receive a wide range of drugs for their specific needs. The current ban on government negotiations with pharmaceutical companies serves to protect Medicate recipients by using the positives of the free market, such as the experience and purchasing power of PBMs. hile there are serious potential problems with this approach, such as the potential for fraud between pharmaceutical companies and private interests, overall the ban on government negotiations with pharmaceutical companies provides a good balance between recipient and government interests.
orks Cited

American Legislative Exchange Council. Prescription Drugs. 19 October 2005. http://www.alec.org/2/4/talking-points/7.html

Barry, Patricia. New Salvos in the Prescription Drug ars: Class action suits are exposing schemes that gouge consumers. AARP Bulletin, January 2005.

19 October 2005. http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/prescription/a2005-01-06-salvos.html

Dealey, Sam. Drug Dealings: Democrats had it right before. National Review Online, May 05, 2004, 9:12 A.M.…...

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Works Cited

American Legislative Exchange Council. Prescription Drugs. 19 October 2005.  http://www.alec.org/2/4/talking-points/7.html 

Barry, Patricia. New Salvos in the Prescription Drug Wars: Class action suits are exposing schemes that gouge consumers. AARP Bulletin, January 2005.

19 October 2005.  http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/prescription/a2005-01-06-salvos.html 

Dealey, Sam. Drug Dealings: Democrats had it right before. National Review Online, May 05, 2004, 9:12 A.M. 19 October 2005.  http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/dealey200405050912.asp

American Health Care
After leading the world in the health of its citizens throughout most of the 20th century, the United States has fallen behind virtually all other wealthy nations in that regard, not to mention having fallen behind several nations that once relied substantially on U.S. aid (Dykman, 2008). While most of the developed world has already embraced the concept of universal government-funded national health care systems, the U.S. still relies on a for-profit model that has proven to be incapable of meeting the health care needs of society in any manner that is efficient, cost-effective, and equally available to all members of society. Even worse, the ongoing political influence of lobbyists for the for-profit health insurance industry continues to succeed in undermining meaningful health care reform (Kennedy, 2006), including by watering down the historic Affordable Care Act that eventually passed into law in 2009. Finally, the available evidence…...

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References

Dykman J. (2008). "Five truths about health care in America." Time, 172(22): 42-51.

Kennedy E. (2006). America: Back on Track. New York: Viking.

Reid T. (2009). The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. New York: Penguin.

Tumulty K., Pickert K., and Park A. (2010). "America, the doctor will see you now."

On April 16, 2015 an Act called the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) was passed, which is a piece of history of bipartisan legislation. Eventually, on October 14, 2016 the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the department of Health and Human Services, and the regulatory agency which takes care implementing and putting into practice MACRA, gave out an ultimate rule with a comment duration putting into practice the provisions of MACRA. MACRA revokes the highly denounced Sustainable Growth Rate Formula together with its schedule for Medicare Physician Fee (MPF) cuts, substituting it with the Quality Payment Program, which is a new model that focuses on cost measurement and quality, as well as payment and reporting adjustments. Physicians and their assistants, clinical nurse specialists, nurse practitioners, and certified registered nurse anesthetics are all part of the eligible clinicians indicated in Medicare Part B and their QPP includes the…...

Healthcare Reform
The subject of healthcare reform set the country ablaze last year, proving to be one of the most contentious issues that has swept through American political discourse in recent decades. One reason that healthcare reform might have proven to be such a contentious issue -- bringing out the worst and shrillest elements of the American public -- was that healthcare is one of the most important issues in the lives of many and even most Americans (Christensen and Jason, 2009).

All of us will face serious illness at some point in our lives, whether our own or that of a loved one. The fact that so many Americans do not have any healthcare at all or have very limited access to healthcare makes the issue a personal one, and this alone should have made it central to the public discourse. However, while the above was no doubt the case for…...

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Works Cited

Christensen, Clayton and Jason, Grossman. The Innovator's Prescription, New York: McGraw Hill, 2009.

http://www.healthreform.gov/index1.html

Mahar, Maggie. Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much. New York:Harper/Collins, 2006.

Reid, T.R. The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care. New York: Penquin Books, 2009.

Obama's health care reform will make health care more accessible and more affordable and make insurers more accountable, as well as expand health care coverage to every American and make the health care system sustainable by stabilizing family budgets, the economy and the Federal budget.

The cost of Obama's overall health care bill will cost approximately $940 billion over 10 years, according to the Congressional udget Office. The bill will include that by the year 2014 there will be significant health access reforms. Insurers will be prohibited from denying coverage to people with medical problems of charging them more money (CS 2010).

While these numbers do sound manageable, Congress has not responded kindly to Obama's health care reform ideas. When Obama has even mentioned the idea of health care for illegal immigrants, the president was rudely interrupted by a heckler yelling, "you lie" ( ). Under Obama's proposal of health care reform,…...

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Bibliography

CBS News. "What's in a health care bill? Take a dose." Retrieved on June 1, 2010, from the Web site:

 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/03/19/politics/main6314410.shtml 

CNN.com. (2010) "Obama calls for congress to face health care challenge." Retrieved on June 5, 2010, from the Web site:

 http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/09/obama.speech/index.html

(Menzel, 1990, p. 3) Fisher, Berwick, & Davis alude to the idea of integration in health care, with providers linking as well as creating networks of electronic medical records and other cost improvement tactics.
The United States and other nations over the last twenty or so years, have begun a sweeping change in health care delivery, regarding the manner in which health information is input, stored and accessed. Computer use in the medical industry has greatly increased over the last thirty years the culmination of this is fully networked electronic medical record keeping. (Berner, Detmer, & Simborg, 2005, p. 3) the electronic medical record trend began in the largest institutions first, as hospitals and large care organizations attempted to reduce waste and improve patient care, while the adoption has been much slower among physician's practices and smaller medical institutions. (Hillestad, et al., 2005, pp. 1103-1104) Prior to this time medical…...

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Resources, and Utilization

The ultimate House vote was two hundred and twenty to two hundred and seven. The senate vote was fifty three to forty three. The republicans were collectively opposed in both chambers (3 June 2010, 3).
The Future of the Health Care ill

Subsequent to disagreements as political enemies for more than a year, the Obama administration and the health insurance industry realized that they require one another.

oth have huge stakes in the success of the new health care law (14 May 2010, 1)

The political destiny of President Obama and Congressional Democrats rely on their capability to interpret it's assurance into realism for voters. This can be attained by restraining health expenses and making insurance accessible to everybody at reasonable price. Similarly, the fiscal future, in fact the continued existence, of the health insurance industry relies on the government. That is on set of laws being written by federal officers and on…...

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Bibliography

1. "Critics Question Study Cited in Health Debate, " New York Times, 2 June 2010, sec. a, p. 1.

2. "Health Reforms," New York Times, 26 March 2010, sec. a, p. 1.

3. "Two Health Care Adversaries Find a Need to Collaborate, " New York Times, 3 June 2010, sec. B, p.3.

4. "Companies Try to Shape Rules, " New York Times, 15 May 2010, sec. a, p.22

In Canada, a much higher percentage of the population lives in remote areas whereas covered healthcare services are often concentrated in large cities (eid, 2009).
Medicare Expansion and Mandatory Health Insurance Issues and Concerns

From the perspective of middle and upper middle income families in the U.S., the expansion of Medicare and the mandatory provision of healthcare by employers would be a tremendous benefit. From the employers' perspective, the associated costs could be prohibitive. Mandatory requirements for individuals could be problematic for those at the lower end of the group income spectrum; however, it would be no less fair than the current situation that forces everyone who pays for healthcare to (in effect) subsidize those who choose not to (Kennedy, 2006). In all likelihood, the only way to make mandatory health insurance work would include expanding Medicare, at least to compete with private health insurers. Naturally, this interferes with their profits,…...

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References

Kennedy, E. (2006). America: Back on Track. Viking: New York.

Reid, T. (2009). The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Health Care. New York: Penguin Group.

Tort Reform
President Bush came into the hite House with a history as a 'tort reformer.' True to his record, the President backed a 'tort reform' bill last year that was passed by the House of Representatives but floundered in a Democratic controlled Senate. The President has recently renewed his call for the legislature to approve a tort reform bill that relates mainly to medical malpractice. It remains to be seen whether President Bush is successful in getting his proposals approved this time around as debate still rages among the supporters and opponents of the reform bill. This paper looks at the pros and cons of the issue and includes the following:

summary of the proposed public policy on tort reform

The impact of the policy (who shall be affected?)

The lobbying efforts in favor of and against the tort reforms

Summary

The present tort reform proposal is restricted to medical malpractices. However, more sweeping tort…...

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Works Cited

Horowitz, Michael. "Can Tort Law Be Ethical? A proposal to curb ill-gotten gains." Hudson Institute. First published in the Weekly Standard March 31, 2001. May 18, 2003.  http://www.hudson.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=publication_details&id=810 

HR 5: A cruel Proposal in Congress." Center for Justice and Democracy. N.d. May 18, 2003. http://centerjd.org/HR5.doc.pdf

President Announces Framework to Modernize and Improve Medicare." White House Press Release. March 4, 2003. White House Web Site.  http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/03/20030304-5.html 

Sebok, Anthony J. "Can an HMO Be Sued For Medical Malpractice Based on Its Coverage Decisions?: A Recent Federal Appeals Case Says Yes." February, 27, 2003. FindLaw Website. May 18, 2003.  http://writ.corporate.findlaw.com/sebok/20030227.html

Maybe for some things are well enough, but for most Americans they are far from it. Most Americans spend their days worrying about being just one layoff away from joining the 50 million other men, women and children in the ranks of the uninsured. The average household income in this country is just about $50,000. This means that most people are not in a position to pay a fourth of their family's annual income, before taxes, just to cover health insurance premiums. More and more people face paying thousands more of our hard earned dollars in out-of-pocket expenses before the coverage we pay so dearly for actually kicks in (ichard, 2009).
In the past many Americans who have been enrolled in employer-sponsored health insurance plans have been able to rely on their employers to pay the biggest share of the premiums, but the truth is that fewer and fewer Americans…...

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References

Benefits of Health Reform. (n.d.). Retrieved February 19, 2010,from Organizing for America

Web site:  http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/ 

Doctors Debate Universal Health Care: Pros and Cons From the Experts. (2010). Retrieved

February 19, 2010, from Organized Wisdom Web site:

sound reforms in the operations and structure of United States Congress. The paper also discusses the reasons why reforms are needed in this powerful institution of our country.
EFOMING THE CONGESS

Congress may be the most powerful institution in the United States government but it is certainly not the most efficient. The powers that Constitution has granted this body have resulted in the creation of an oversized inefficient institution, full of self-serving politicians who are quite out of touch with country most pressing problems. It is extremely important to bear in mind that reform of Congress has been proposed a million times which indicates that the clash between public and the Congress is not something new. Yet the lack of any sound measures has only added to public anger and frustration. There are several important ways in which Congress can be reformed but we must first be familiar with the reasons…...

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References

TOM KEAN, CONGRESS MUST REFORM CAMPAIGN FUNDING NOW., The Record (Bergen County, NJ), 03-25-2001, pp 01

Thomas E. Mann, Cynicism Curbs Reform of Congress., Newsday, 03-29-1994, pp A39

To Reform Congress, Reform the Dollar, Freemarket Gold & Money Report: 1998

 http://www.fgmr.com/buffett.htm

overwhelming connections between healthcare costs and the macroeconomic performance of the U.S. economy. The impact of healthcare industry on the macroeconomic performance is evident from the fact that in 2009 healthcare expenditure of the U.S. was 18% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. It was also estimated that should the healthcare costs continue to grow at historical rates, 34% of the U.S. GDP will compose of healthcare spending by 2040 (Whitehouse, 2009). The major sources of funding the healthcare costs are the Federal, State, and local governments of the U.S. Medicare is a healthcare program that subsidizes healthcare for citizens above 65 years of age. Medicaid subsidizes healthcare delivery for people below a certain income level. Approximately 50% of the healthcare expenditure is bore by governments at the federal, state and local level. It is also estimated that Medicare and Medicaid spending of Federal and State…...

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Bibliography

CMS. (2013, Nov). National Health Expenditure Projections 2012-2022. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Retrieved from:  http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/NationalHealthExpendData/NationalHealthAccountsProjected.html 

Kolstad, J.T., & Kowalski, A.E. (2012). Mandate-based health reform and the labor market: Evidence from the Massachusetts reform (No. w17933). National Bureau of Economic Research.

The Whitehouse. (2009). Deficit-Reducing Health Care Reform. The Whitehouse. Retrieved from:  http://www.whitehouse.gov/economy/reform/deficit-reducing-health-care-reform 

CBO. (2011, March). The Economic Case for the Health Care Reform. Congressional Budget Office: Executive Office of the President Council of Economic Advisers. Retrieved from:  http://www.cbo.gov/publication/22077