A new report from the Commonwealth Fund finds that older Americans spend more on health care than in 10 other developed democracies.
A new report finds that Medicare, the public health insurance program for people over 65 and people with disabilities, has significant cost-sharing requirements, including no caps on copayments, deductibles, or out-of-pocket expenses. is highlighted.
“Despite nearly all older adults in the United States covered by Medicare, this study highlights areas for improvement in the program,” said Commonwealth Fund Director of Global Health Policy and Practice Innovation. said senior researcher Munira Z. Gunja in a statement. . “In some countries, few older people neglect or delay care because of cost.”
Medicare is available through two programs: traditional Medicare, also known as “fee-for-service,” and Medicare Advantage, which is administered by private insurance companies.
Traditional Medicare lacks many benefits that older Americans and people with disabilities need, such as vision, dental, and hearing care, and long-term and home care. Although Medicare Advantage provides some of these benefits, it has been criticized for unfairly denying care and being unnecessarily costly, and is the subject of a federal fraud investigation.
Conservatives have proposed further privatizing Medicare by creating a “default enrollment” in Medicare Advantage. President-elect Donald Trump has promised “no cuts” to the program in the Republican party's official platform, but there are few specifics beyond that promise.
President Trump's pick for the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the Medicare program, is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer, conspiracy theorist, and one of the nation's leading vaccine skeptics.
The Commonwealth's report draws on data from the foundation's international survey of older people and examines health outcomes in 10 countries: Australia, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. We compared the benefits.
It found that nearly a quarter of older Americans spent more than $2,000 on medical expenses in the past year, compared with less than 5% in France and the Netherlands. Similarly, older adults in the United States reported the highest cost barriers to care, but less than 10% reported encountering such barriers. One in five older adults in the United States, Australia and Canada reported not receiving necessary dental care, compared to less than 5% in the Netherlands and Germany. Across all countries, less than 5% of adults reported skipping necessary mental health care because of cost.
The United States has the most expensive health care system in the world. Despite these high prices, they perform poorly on health equity, accessibility, and outcome measures.
“This study highlights the importance of Medicare for older Americans, but also the challenges of providing them with the care they need,” Gretchen Jacobson, vice president of Medicare at the Commonwealth Fund, said in a statement. It's highlighted,” he said. “Rising costs are forcing many older Americans to pay higher out-of-pocket costs, leading to delayed care, worse health outcomes, and higher long-term expenses.”
