Health Care for Dead People?

[ed: Ah, the dangers of waiting. I actually wrote this post yesterday (Tuesday) but decided to "sandbag" it for today (Wednesday). In case you missed it, however, Bob has an excellent take on the same story, with a bit of a different spin.]

Not an unlikely consequence if the Universal Care folks get their way. After all, it's likely that the same (kind of) folks who administer Social Security would be in charge of our health care:

"Millions of Americans on Social Security are receiving $250 checks as part of the president’s stimulus plan — including an Anne Arundel woman who’s dead."

Of course, there's a perfectly valid and reasonable explanation:

"Social Security representatives said ... Of the about 52 million checks that have been mailed out, about 10,000 of those have been sent to people who are deceased."

Oh, goody.

I can't wait for gummint run health care.

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Medicare Sinking Fast

Some in Washington want to put all of us in Medicare. That might not be such a good idea.

You see, Medicare is expected to run out of money in 2017.

Contributing factors?

Millions fewer people are working and paying the taxes that support the programs; yet health care costs are continuing to soar, millions of baby boomers have begun receiving Social Security retirement benefits, and Americans are living longer.

Medicare expenses are now expected to surpass Social Security’s in 2028.

Did you catch that?

The cost of running Medicare is expected to surpass the cost of Social Security in less than 20 years.

The report comes a day after President Obama embraced a pledge from health-care providers to slow the increase in their costs over the coming decade.

Bad timing.

O-man wants to expand government health care and they can't even manage what they have now. Let me remind you: Medicare is slightly over 40 years old and the folks in Congress have already broken it.

Blue Cross started in 1939. Kaiser Permanente started in the 1930's and became available to the public in 1945.

Both are solvent and have never taken a dime of taxpayer money.

Am I missing something?

“Correcting the financial imbalance for the H.I. Trust Fund — even in the short-range alone — will require substantial changes to program income and/or expenditures,” it says.

The trustees project adequate funding for a separate Medicare trust fund that pays doctors’ bills and other outpatient expenses, known as Part B. But it cautions that about one-fourth of Part B enrollees face “unusually large” premium increases in the next two years.

The standard Part B premium has already increased by 64 percent in the last five years.

Easy solution.

Doc's charge less.

Patients quit getting sick.

Problem solved.

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We Found Your Stimulus check

[Welcome Industry Radar readers!]

Washington wants to run health care, just like they are handling the economy.

Got your stimulus check? If not, maybe it went to a dead person.

Millions of American's listed on the Social Security rolls got stimulus checks for $250 . . . like that is going to do much good. Millions, including Anne Arundel. A woman who died 43 years ago.

Social Security representatives said there is a good explanation. Of the about 52 million checks that have been mailed out, about 10,000 of those have been sent to people who are deceased.

The agency blames the error on the strict mid-June deadline of mailing out all of the checks, which didn't leave officials much time to clean up all of their records.

That's their idea of a "good explanation"?

Agents ask that people return the check if they receive it.

I wonder how many of the deceased left a forwarding address?

Social Security officials said they aren't expecting to lose too much money to fraud. They're reminding the public that it's a federal offense to cash someone else's Social Security check.

So what are they going to do? Arrest a dead person?

And this is the same government you want to trust with your health care?

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Another "D'OH!" Moment, Rx-Style

If your employer paid for your groceries, wouldn't you eat a lot more steak (vegetarians excepted, of course)?

What if the guy down the street offered to make your car payments? You'd be at the Beemer dealer ASAP, right?

And what if your cousin offered to buy you a boat? You'd probably opt for the yacht over the canoe, wouldn't you?

So why is this a shocker?

"Many more Americans have been using prescription drugs to treat mental illness since 1996, in part because of expanded insurance coverage and greater familiarity with the drugs among primary care doctors."

Wow, never saw that one coming, did we?

That's part of the problem with how we currently finance health care: there are so many (expensive) mandated insurance benefits that it's almost a challenge to spend them all. Mental health parity mandates make such meds more accessible and affordable. Now, I'm all for affordability - to a point. That point is where folks take a look at the low cost of care (since someone else is ostensibly paying for it), and that leads to over-utilization and hence, higher rates.

This part's scary:

"[Researchers] said 73 percent more adults and 50 percent more children are using drugs to treat mental illness than in 1996."

Are there really half again as many pyschotic/neurotic kids now than a scant 13 years ago? Should so many of our progeny be on potentially dangerous mood-altering drugs? I don't know (I'm not a doc), but that's certainly a valid - and important - question.

So why aren't we asking it?

The adult side of the equation isn't much better: "Among adults over 65, use of so-called psychotropic drugs — which include antidepressants, antipsychotics and Alzheimer's medicines — doubled between 1996 and 2006."

I can see where the new Alzheimer's meds are critical (regular readers know why), but are there really that many depressed seniors? Maybe, but then oughtn't we be asking why?

Of course, when all you have is a hammer, a lot of medical problems look like nails:

"... expanded drug coverage under Medicare, the federal insurance program for the elderly, and the State Children's Health Insurance Program for poor children, helped make such drugs more affordable."

Is that a feature or a bug?

[Hat Tip: Holly Robinson]

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Blawg Review (new for us)

Fellow wonk David Harlow is hosting this week's edition of the Blawg (law blog) Review, featuring a roundup of posts about the President's first 100 days in office. Lots to read, and lots of food for thought (although some may give you indigestion).

Recommended.

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Everything You Wanted to Know

about COBRA/ARRA . . . but were afraid to ask . . .

Over 1800 FAQ (for registered members). THE #1 source for all things COBRA including updates for ARRA.

Download a FREE Cobra Guide.

Can't find your answer? Pose your question by email for personal response within 72 hours.

Information for employers and employees alike.

This is an amazing find!

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