The cuts would simply pay the plans what the average Medicare patient costs.
Marilyn Moon of Washington's Urban Institute calculates that the average Medicare recipient already spends nearly 19% of his or her income on health care and that in a generation's time, if the system remains unaltered, the proportion will rise to almost 30%.
Though the pay increase will vary because Medicaid rates differ from state to state, the average pay increase will be about 73 percent given Medicare last year paid on average 66 percent of what Medicare pays for certain primary care services, according to a Henry J.
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Another important reason is that the average dollar amount per Medicare claim is much higher than for private insurance because the elderly and disabled use hospital and nursing home services far more than do children or non-elderly adults.
One in four Medicare enrollees are in private plans that have, on the average, lower costs than traditional Medicare and in the best-run plans costs are substantially lower and quality is substantially higher.
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One of the reasons for the decline is that Medicare pays on average about 78 percent of what private insurance pays, according to that USA Today article.
He would turn Medicare into a defined contribution plan that would pay retirees who turn 65 in 2021 or later a defined contribution equal to the average federal cost of a Medicare retiree in 2012 (less the Medicare premiums), which would then be allowed to grow at 1 percent a year.
The accompanying chart summarizes the net amount of Medicare benefits received by average earning seniors above and beyond their lifetime payroll tax contributions.
For primary care services in 2011, Medicaid on average paid about 35 percent less than Medicare, which in turn pays about 20 percent less than commercial.
Rick cites the example of Grand Junction, Colorado, a community that has achieved low health care costs (Medicare spend about 30% below average) and good outcomes through a regional program led by a physicians organization working together with a non-profit insurance company.
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Medicare was urged by the labs to cross walk some average price being paid to existing tests to the new codes (perhaps a median or weighted average of the stacks being used, which CMS would be able to measure).
In other words, Medicare spends three thousand dollars more per person here than the average person earns.
McAllen costs Medicare seven thousand dollars more per person each year than does the average city in America.
In 2006, Medicare spent fifteen thousand dollars per enrollee here, almost twice the national average.
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