How We Help - Medicare School (2024)

FAQs

What can be done to improve Medicare? ›

MedicareSchool.com is a completely free education service that helps people find the best Medicare plan for them. However, to put food on the table, insurance companies pay us to continue providing Medicare education and guidance.

Part A covers inpatient hospital stays, care in a skilled nursing facility, hospice care, and some home health care. Part B covers certain doctors' services, outpatient care, medical supplies, and preventive services. Helps cover the cost of prescription drugs (including many recommended shots or vaccines).

Perhaps even more important, Medicare played a crucial role in speeding the desegregation of hospitals and other medical facilities, ensuring not only that minority seniors would receive care but that minority persons of all ages would have access to health care services.

However, Jacobson says, “if you have a significant delay in care, depending on your condition, that can really result in poorer health outcomes.” The biggest challenges reported by those in Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage: Out-of-pocket medical costs and health services they needed but weren't covered.

Original Medicare covers most medically necessary services and supplies in hospitals, doctors' offices, and other health care facilities. Original Medicare doesn't cover some benefits like eye exams, most dental care, and routine exams. Plans must cover all medically necessary services that Original Medicare covers.

“Medicare for All is the only plan that puts patients first: It guarantees health care for life, with free choice of hospital and provider, and no financial firewalls to stand in the way of care. It's no surprise that a majority of physicians and other health providers now support single-payer Medicare for All.”

For 50 years, Medicare has accomplished its two key goals: ensure access to health care for its elderly and disabled beneficiaries, and protect them against the financial hardship of health care costs. Before Medicare, 48 percent of Americans 65 and older had no insurance; today, that figure is just 2 percent.

Medicare plays a major role in the health care system, accounting for 21% of total national health spending in 2021, 26% of spending on both hospital care and physician and clinical services, and 32% of spending on retail prescription drug sales (Figure 1).

Why do we contribute to Medicare? ›

The Medicare tax is a payroll tax that applies to all earned income in the United States and supports your health coverage when you become eligible for Medicare. Medicare taxes are used to help individuals with future Medicare costs and services once they become a Medicare beneficiary.

We estimate a nearly 1-percentage-point drop in 7-day mortality for patients at age 65, equivalent to a 20% reduction in deaths for this severely ill patient group. The mortality gap persists for at least 9 months after admission.

In addition to reforming how Medicare pays health care providers, improving competition within the program and eliminating waste can help to ensure that patients are served well and that tax dollars are spent efficiently.

Your plan is the best resource to resolve plan related issues. Call 1-800-MEDICARE. Call 1-800-633-4227, TTY users should call 1-877-486-2048.

Absolve Medicare's Responsibility for Bad Debts

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that eliminating Medicare's responsibility to pay for such debt could save $74 billion over 10 years, while reducing the percentage of the program's coverage of bad debt would save a smaller amount.