Up-to-date analysis of the local political landscape
Saturday, August 18, 2012
1 comment:
Anonymous
said...
The budget passed by House Republicans in April 2011 makes radical changes to Medicare. The Republican plan raises costs for seniors and individuals with disabilities enrolled in Medicare, reduces their benefits, and puts private insurance companies in charge of the program. For current beneficiaries, important benefits – such as closing the hole in Medicare’s drug coverage – would be immediately eliminated. For individuals age 54 and under, Medicare’s guarantee of comprehensive coverage would be replaced with a “voucher” or “premium support” to buy private health insurance. By design, this federal contribution does not keep pace with medical costs, shifting thousands of dollars in costs onto the individual. This analysis shows the immediate and long-term impacts of these changes in the 5th Congressional District in North Carolina, which is represented by Rep. Virginia Foxx. The Republican proposal would have adverse impacts on seniors and disabled individuals in the district who are currently enrolled in Medicare. It would: • Increase prescription drug costs for 13,400 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who enter the Part D donut hole, forcing them to pay an extra $131 million for drugs over the next decade. • Eliminate new preventive care benefits for 119,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district. The Republican proposal would have even greater impacts on individuals in the district age 54 and younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare. It would: • Deny 490,000 individuals age 54 and younger in the district access to Medicare’s guaranteed benefits. • Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 116,000 individuals in the district who are between the ages of 44 and 54. • Require the 116,000 individuals in the district between the ages of 44 and 54 to save an additional $27.1 billion for their retirement – an average of $182,000 to $287,000 per individual – to pay for the increased cost of health coverage over their lifetimes. Younger residents of the district will have to save even higher amounts to cover their additional medical costs. • Raise the Medicare eligibility age by at least one year to age 66 or more for 65,000 individuals in the district who are age 44 to 49 and by two years to age 67 for 371,000 individuals in the district who are age 43 or younger.
J.W. Williamson was the founding editor in 1972 of the Appalachian Journal: A Regional Studies Review, which he edited until July of 2000. He has taught college classes in Appalachian history, cultural politics, and literature, and he has lectured widely on the pop-culture history of "Appalachia" in the American consciousness. His books include Interviewing Appalachia, Southern Mountaineers in Silent Films, and Hillbillyland: What the Mountains Did to the Movies and What the Movies Did to the Mountains. He has won the Thomas Wolfe Award given by the Western North Carolina Historical Society, the Laurel Leaves Award given by the Appalachian Consortium, a special Weatherford Award given by Berea College, and the Cratis Williams-James Brown Award given by the Appalachian Studies Association.
The views expressed on WataugaWatch are solely those of J.W. Williamson or individual contributors and are not necessarily shared nor endorsed by the Watauga County Democratic Party nor by any other adults of sound mind in this or any other universe.
1 comment:
The budget passed by House Republicans in April 2011 makes radical changes to Medicare. The Republican plan raises costs for seniors and individuals with disabilities enrolled in Medicare, reduces their benefits, and puts private insurance companies in charge of the program. For current beneficiaries, important benefits – such as closing the hole in Medicare’s drug coverage – would be immediately eliminated. For individuals age 54 and under, Medicare’s guarantee of comprehensive coverage would be replaced with a “voucher” or “premium support” to buy private health insurance. By design, this federal contribution does not keep pace with medical costs, shifting thousands of dollars in costs onto the individual.
This analysis shows the immediate and long-term impacts of these changes in the 5th Congressional District in North Carolina, which is represented by Rep. Virginia Foxx.
The Republican proposal would have adverse impacts on seniors and disabled individuals in the district who are currently enrolled in Medicare. It would:
• Increase prescription drug costs for 13,400 Medicare beneficiaries in the district who enter the Part D donut hole, forcing them to pay an extra $131 million for drugs over the next decade.
• Eliminate new preventive care benefits for 119,000 Medicare beneficiaries in the district.
The Republican proposal would have even greater impacts on individuals in the district age 54 and younger who are not currently enrolled in Medicare. It would:
• Deny 490,000 individuals age 54 and younger in the district access to Medicare’s guaranteed benefits.
• Increase the out-of-pocket costs of health coverage by over $6,000 per year in 2022 and by almost $12,000 per year in 2032 for the 116,000 individuals in the district who are between the ages of 44 and 54.
• Require the 116,000 individuals in the district between the ages of 44 and 54 to save an additional $27.1 billion for their retirement – an average of $182,000 to $287,000 per individual – to pay for the increased cost of health coverage over their lifetimes. Younger residents of the district will have to save even higher amounts to cover their additional medical costs.
• Raise the Medicare eligibility age by at least one year to age 66 or more for 65,000 individuals in the district who are age 44 to 49 and by two years to age 67 for 371,000 individuals in the district who are age 43 or younger.
Post a Comment