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Also Try Finding Medical Care Health Care or Healthcare Social Security Lesson Plans Great Depression - Three Lessons (Library of Congress - Perry and Sauer) Provides an opportunity for research so that "...students will be able to gain a better understanding of why the government takes care of its people and how this type of welfare state started. Armed with this knowledge, they can then evaluate the current need of government programs, such as welfare, Medicare and Social Security, on the federal and state level." The three lessons are designed to take 2-3 weeks. 5-02 News -05-25-06 Vermont Signs Near-Universal Health-Care Insurance (ABC News) "Vermont's governor signed a bill on Thursday that would make the state the second in the nation with near-universal health-care insurance by extending coverage to as much as 96 percent of its residents by 2010." " A new subsidized health-care plan called Catamount Health will be offered by insurance companies and paid for in part with a hike in the state's cigarette tax and a fee on employers who do not offer health insurance to their workers." 05-06 -10-07-07 Medicare Audit Reveals Problems (New York Times) "Tens of thousands of Medicare recipients have been victims of deceptive sales tactics and had claims improperly denied by private insurers that run the system’s huge new drug benefit program and offer other private insurance options encouraged by the Bush administration, a review of scores of federal audits has found." "Medicare officials have required insurance companies of all sizes to fix the violations by adopting 'corrective action plans.' Since March, Medicare has imposed fines of more than $770,000 on 11 companies for marketing violations and failure to provide timely notice to beneficiaries about changes in costs and benefits." "The companies include three of the largest participants in the Medicare market, UnitedHealth, Humana and WellPoint." 10-07 02-06-04 Medicare Ads Opposed (CBS News) "Several Congressional Democrats have asked the General Accounting Office to investigate the use of taxpayer money on ads publicizing recent changes to Medicare." "The Department Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicare, announced the $12.6 million ad campaign this week and unveiled a 30-second television commercial that anchors the effort. The ad proclaims: 'Same Medicare. More benefits.' " "Charles Rangel of New York — complains that the ad misleads when it says "It's the same Medicare." Democrats contend Medicare is not the same. The new law includes restrictions on Medigap prescription insurance, introduces means-testing of premiums for supplemental or Part B Medicare and indexes deductibles for Part B to inflation. Neither the TV nor print ad mentions any of those changes." 2-04 09-05-04 Medicare Premiums to Jump Largest Amount in Program's History (MSNBC News) "Medicare premiums for doctor visits will rise 17 percent next year, the Bush administration said Friday. The $11.60-a-month increase is the largest in the program’s 40-year-history." 9-04 11-23-03 House Votes to Remake Medicare (Bloomberg.com) "The U.S. House of Representatives approved a $395 billion Medicare bill to help the elderly afford prescription drugs, after Republican leaders spent three hours mustering the votes needed to overhaul the federal health plan. " "The measure would spend billions of dollars over the next decade to pick up much of the cost of prescription medicines that seniors buy at pharmacies, expanding sales for drugmakers including Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co. The program now pays for medicines administered by doctors such as chemotherapy. The bill would also raise hospital payments and cut fees for doctors and other services."  "For the first time, the legislation would also require those older Americans with annual incomes over $80,000 to pay higher premiums under Medicare Part B, which covers services outside the hospital." "Additionally, it would establish new tax-preferred health accounts, open to individuals with high-deductible insurance policies." 11-03 11-23-03 House Votes to Remake Medicare (CNN News) "The measure would give 40 million older and disabled Americans a prescription drug benefit and a new option for private health care coverage." "As written, the legislation would virtually remake Medicare." "For the first time, the legislation would also require those older Americans with annual incomes over $80,000 to pay higher premiums under Medicare Part B, which covers services outside the hospital." "Additionally, it would establish new tax-preferred health accounts, open to individuals with high-deductible insurance policies." 11-03 11-23-03 House Votes to Remake Medicare (U.S. House of Representatives) Provides a 10-page summary of the Medicare legislation. 11-03 11-23-03 House Votes to Remake Medicare - Summary (U.S. House of Representatives) Provides a 1-page summary of the Medicare legislation. 11-03 11-25-03 Congress Approves Remake of Medicare (Bloomberg.com) "The U.S. Senate voted 54-44 to approve Medicare's biggest expansion in history, a bill designed to help the elderly pay for medicines and test competition between private and federal health insurance." "The legislation would help 41 million elderly and disabled Americans pay for prescriptions at pharmacies, expanding sales for drugmakers including Pfizer Inc. and Merck & Co." 11-03 Papers 12-03-03 Republican Congress Achieves Goals (CNN News) "With Republicans in control, Congress in 2003 gave President Bush the money he asked for Iraq, voted the biggest changes in Medicare in four decades and narrowed abortion rights for the first time in 30 years." 12-03 Economics Stunts Web Psychologists (applesforhealth) Fear of losing business and limited Medicare reimbursements are keeping psychologists from hanging up their shingle on the Internet, a government telemedicine expert said. 08-27-99. Editorial - Bush's Prescription Drug Relief Flawed (Detroit Free Press - ) "Several states, including Michigan, have already tried to help senior citizens get prescription drugs by giving them choices among HMO plans through Medicare. The experiments have mostly failed. Yet President George W. Bush is heading into the same blind alley." 1-03 Editorial: Other Shortfalls Much Greater Than Social Security (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) "The Social Security and Medicare Trustees, a majority of whom are members of the President’s cabinet, project that the Social Security shortfall will amount to 0.65 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (the basic measure of the size of the U.S. economy) over the next 75 years. In dollar terms, the Trustees project the shortfall over the 75 year period at $3.7 trillion." "The Trustees also project the cost of the Medicare drug benefit at 1.4 percent of GDP — or $8.1 trillion — over the same period. This is at least double the size of the Social Security shortfall." 2-05 GAO: Americans owe $43 Trillion in Debt (MSNBC News) "Meanwhile on Thursday Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan praised the virtues of a consumption tax, which economists such as Laurence Kotlikoff have argued would be one equitable way to help pay the staggering cost of unfunded liabilities for Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security." "According to the General Accountability Office, the government’s fiscal watchdog, the federal government’s net liabilities, unfunded commitments, and other obligations now amount to more than $43 trillion, or about $350,000 for every full-time worker." 3-05 GAO: Illegal Presentation of Propaganda as News (ABC News) "President Bush today defended his administration's use of video news releases packaged as news stories, which have been sent to local television stations across the country and sometimes broadcast with no indication they were made by the government." "The U.S. Government Accountability Office — the investigative arm of Congress — ruled last month at least two of the broadcast reports — ones about Medicare and illegal narcotics — were 'covert propaganda' and illegal." 3-05 GAO: Tax Expenditures Creating a Financial Disaster (MSNBC News) "Tax breaks cause nearly $730 billion in revenue losses every year, the GAO said in a report released Friday." "To put that number in perspective, $730 billion is just slightly less than what the federal government spent in 2004 on all military outlays and on the Medicare health insurance program for the elderly combined." "In Washington lingo, these tax breaks are called 'tax expenditures.' They 'grant special tax relief for certain kinds of behavior by taxpayers or for taxpayers in special circumstances,' according to the new GAO report released Friday." "Walker does not have the hurricanes primarily in mind. He’s thinking of the fiscal crisis that will hit the nation during the next 30 years unless Congress changes course." “ 'We are on an imprudent and unsustainable fiscal path,' he told reporters Friday. 'We were already deeply in the hole before Katrina hit…. We face a large and unprecedented demographic tidal wave, the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. Unlike most tidal waves, the waters of this tidal wave will never recede. It is a permanent change in the demographic landscape of this country, with profound economic, fiscal, budgetary and workforce implications. Unlike natural tidal waves, evacuation is not an option.' ” 9-05 Health Care Costs Doubled from 1993 - 2004 (PBS.org) "The overall cost of health care doubled between 1993 and 2004, and in 2004, health care spending topped $1.9 trillion or 16 percent of the nation's economic output -- the largest share on record, according to a report released Monday by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services." 01-06 Hospitals (HealthGrades.com) Search for hospitals by state and procedure or diagnosis. Provides ratings of hospitals based on data from Medicare files (MEDPAR), licensed from the Health Care Financing Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and files for 14 individual states that release all payer data. 1-04 Medicare Eligibility (Medicare.gov) "Medicare is a Health Insurance Program for people 65 years of age and older, some disabled people under 65 years of age, and people with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure treated with dialysis or a transplant)." 04-06 Medicare Will Be Broke by 2019 (Bloomberg.com) "Hospital payments for the elderly under the U.S. Medicare program will exceed income for the first time this year, nine years earlier than anticipated, and the federal program's assets will dry up in 2019, seven years sooner than expected, trustees for the program said." 3-04 Preparing for Long-Term Care (ABC News) "Jointly funded by the federal and state governments, Medicaid provides health insurance to the poor as well as those who are 65 years and older, disabled or eligible for other government aid. Medicaid offers Medicare beneficiaries assistance with their out-of-pocket expenses and also covers the costs of prescription drugs, eyeglasses and hearing aids as well as other services not covered by Medicare. A key benefit of Medicaid is that nursing home benefits outlast those offered by Medicare which always end after the first 100 days in each benefit period." 04-06 Seniors Spend $2,430 On Health Care (applesforhealth) Even with Medicare, senior citizens spend an average $2,430 a year on their health care needs, about 19 percent of their income, the American Association of Retired Persons reported Wednesday. 12-10-99.

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