There is a lot of political hype in the media right now that has a lot of seniors listening carefully to the Obamacare facts. As the health care debate moves forward, many seniors are worried that their benefits will be cut in order to pay for the changes. However, seniors need not worry.
The cuts will primarily come from reducing the amount of Medicare fraud annually and the amount of payments that are paid into Medicare Advantage programs paid by private insurance companies. Medicare fraud costs tax payers approximately 60 billion dollars annually. Physician payments will also be cut. These cuts have been in the making long before ObamaCare and in fact were developed in 2002 by the Clinton administration.
Medicare Fraud
Medicare has been a part of our economy for many years and its purpose is to help those in need of medical assistance. Medicare scams have preyed on thousands of US citizens, not only the elderly. These scams are carried out through the hospitals, doctors offices and other medical faculties. Many physicians have been guilty of Medicare scams.
Medicare scams have reached an all time high through false telemarketing, false advertisements and faulty payroll deductions. Inaccurate amounts of office visits, medications and facility usages are billed to the Medicare program and in return, these physicians are paid through Medicare for services they have not rendered.
Medicare scams also affect our population through hospital stays and emergency room visits. Many hospital stay claims are filed each year on Medicare recipients who were never admitted or received services from a hospital stay. Emergency room visits, including Lab services, are cleverly listed in Medicare claims. Medicare Scams through telemarketing and false advertisement affect the disabled and elderly the most by promising wheelchairs and other mobile equipment. The scam victim gives out their Medicare information but never receives their product. In some cases, the victim receives their product but Medicare is billed excessively.
Obamacare is focused on reducing the amount of false claims to Medicare which will significantly reduce costs. Through Obamacare, expat health insurance will still be available if you are residing outside of the country with even more reduced costs. Obamacare wants to make sure seniors are fully covered, and it also wants to make sure that self employed citizens who are not offered health insurance through an employer are covered as well. Health care is not expected to diminish with Obamacare, but become more widely available.