As more beneficiaries sign up for Medicare fee-for-service plans, “experts†are concerned that Medicare may be going private, which apparently is a bad thing.
Citing a New York Times story, the Kaiser Network reports that fee-for-service enrollments increased tenfold to 820,000 during the last two years. The federal government raised plan subsidies by an average of 11 percent, which some say accounts for the increased enrollment numbers.
Chief Executive of the California Medical Association Jack Lewin sounds a little paranoid. He told the Times that fee-for-service plans are a “back-door way of trying to privatize Medicare†and “We are very concerned that Congress is going to pull back on funding, and we will be left with a private system that offers fewer benefits and is going to be influenced by Wall Street.â€
In other Medicare prescription drug news, outgoing CMS administrator Mark McClellan wants to encourage beneficiaries to use generic drugs to save money. According to a Dow Jones report, about 52 percent of the time, U.S. residents buy prescription drugs. For seniors, the number is higher – 60 percent.
At least one big-name store is capitalizing on the trend. Wal-Mart plans to offer generic prescription drugs for $4. For more information, listen to an NPR program on the topic.
