Today’s New York Times contains an important story describing a potential meeting of the minds between the President and Congressional Republicans that, if implemented, would make significant changes in the Medicare program. Trial balloons, such as this one, shouldn’t be read as certainties, but the general idea behind the changes is to create a common Medicare deductible between Part A hospital services and Part B physician services and to create some form of total out of pocket limit for beneficiaries.
The article talks about these changes taking effect for people coming into Medicare in 2016 and later, which is also interesting, because someone just entering a changed program will not experience the lower Part B deductible that currently exists. From their perspective they will not have lost the lower deductible. Also, Medicare beneficiaries now have preventative benefits available to them at no cost, so the deductible will not be a barrier to care that helps people stay healthy.
The out of pocket limit is a familiar idea for those involved with Medicare for a long time. In the late eighties a catastrophic benefit was put into law and rapidly rescinded. However, a lot has changed since then. Back then most people were highly satisfied with their Medicare Supplement plans that covered the catastrophic risk. The ideas discussed in the article will put the value of supplement plans under scrutiny again. They are also one more sign that cost sharing by beneficiaries is the increasing norm in health care. People will need better tools to handle that obligation if these changes have a chance to succeed.
