Big Changes Coming for Medicare, Social Security

Kiplinger ^ | June 16, 2015 | Martha Lynn Craver,

[BradtotheBone]

Republicans will risk political pushback to put entitlement programs on the agenda during the presidential election.

Some changes are in the wind for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid—entitlement programs that account for 45% of the federal government’s payouts.

Many of the changes are still years away. But some of them will start next year, smack in the middle of the presidential election campaign, forcing candidates to address issues that they and their advisers generally try to steer clear of when they’re running.

Kicking off the rare election-year debate: a move to rescue the Social Security disability fund image: http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png before 20% cuts in monthly payments need to be made (recipients are people unable to work because of illness or injury). Congress will find a solution before money runs short in fall 2016. Tighter eligibility standards are likely to be added as a condition of more money being pumped into the fund.

A less visible change with a broader effect will come with Medicare’s emphasis on value over volume. By the end of 2016, 30% of Medicare payments to providers will be value based. By 2019, that figure will jump to 50%.

Examples of value pricing: A single price for all care that is tied to one medical event, such as heart bypass surgery. And reduced payments to hospitals that have high rates.

The shift bears watching, since Medicare is the largest health insurance provider in the United States and other insurers are generally quick to follow its lead.

[publius911]

When was it, exactly, that the money that I paid in to the government with the promise of getting it back later became an ‘entitlement’?

When our elected criminals and bureaucrats started attaching dozens of new welfare programs to it and calling it more Social Security, with no contributions ever required of the recipients.

[cherry]

I have two shiftless relatives...both on SDD and on it for most of their working lives....they both have sports cars plus their regular cars...second home and property in the country...

the guy is too disabled to do any thing of course except spend plenty of time playing poker...

there was a couple in the hospital...both below 60....both have CAREGIVERS doing their kitchen work and washing their clothes...both are obese, both can move around, and yet the're getting CAREGIVERS....

[cherry]

what are you talking about?....freepers know for sure if there has been money deducted from their paychecks into SS....Its not our fault that the govt didn’t keep their bargain...

[Victoria_R]

But you would be surprised the the number of people Freepers who don’t know how all of this works and think they have “paid” into the system

I used to work for the IRS. The auditors check employee paychecks to verify that Social Security and Medicare is withheld from employee paychecks and sent to the government. This amount is also subject to income taxes before being deducted from the employees' wages. Also, this amount is matched by the employer but not noted on employees' paychecks.

I (and my employers) put approximately $700,000 into the system and, in addition, I paid income taxes on my half. At the rate the government reimburses me, it would take about 30 years for me to get it back.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

I consider what I pay in SS and Medicare as a tax. Yes, I pay a tax, but none of what I’ve paid in is “mine” in any meaningful way. Sorry for the misunderstanding.