Issue Position: Medicare

Issue Position

When Lyndon Johnson signed Medicare into law, he sought to create a program that would allow our seniors to have a level of dignity and security as they progressed along life's journey. The original plan was limited, but the country made the right decision to expand the coverage to help provide all of our seniors the opportunity to secure affordable and effective healthcare.

There are people who wrongly criticize Medicare. They call it unconstitutional, they claim that it steals our liberty, they claim that it is a ponzi scheme sure to collapse under its own weight. I don't agree.

My parents, my grandparents, my aunts and my uncles are all of age to be on Medicare. I understand the importance of access to healthcare in this extremely costly and confusing environment. I don't believe in turning Medicare into a coupon/voucher plan. The last thing any of us need to do is spend hours trying to figure out which service we can afford based upon the restrictions of a coupon. The government ought to take Donald Trump up on his offer and get the best negotiators in the country in place to make sure that Medicare is getting the best rates on all of the services/products it pays for.

There are lots of ideas that can be instituted to continue keeping Medicare solvent for years. Don't listen to the false claims that Medicare will go bankrupt in this decade. It won't. Here are my suggestions that can pass bi-partisan muster:

Enact the reduction in reimbursement for medical services/products. The federal has not revised the pricing in well over a decade. Very often the taxpayer is being overcharged for services. Despite the talking points that get put out by the hospital and specialty products industry, this will not cause a large exodus of doctors and hospitals from providing service to Medicare patients. The true fear is that if the federal government takes the lead in lowering reimbursement rates, the other insurance companies will follow suit. Not enacting the reimbursements is a direct bowing to the hospital and specialty products lobby.

Make electronic submission of claims the only free method of claims submission. If a provider or specialty product supplier wishes to bill manually a maximum $1.00 fee (provided the reimbursement is greater than $1.00) will be assessed to the reimbursement (if the claim is approved). Allow a maximum of 50 manual bills to be submitted per per provider/supplier year. After the 50th claim submission, the claim would still be processed, and the output would be a notification indicating that the claim was approved but the reimbursement amount and patient responsibility were $0.00 due to submission method. No fee would be assessed. The claim could be resubmitted for reconsideration (if resubmitted electronically, the normal reimbursement criteria would be applied). Once a provider begins to bill electronically, they can not revert back to manual billing unless approved by CMS. The electronic submission of claims is much more efficient, better protects the medical information of seniors and helps in the identification of fraud. Providers and suppliers have the ability to procure electronic submission software free of charge.

Ensure that competitive bidding and negotiating is used for pharmaceuticals, durable medical equipment, orthotics, prosthetics and supplies. Right now special deals are made for each of these products. Let's get our best negotiators in place to ensure that we can get the best products for our seniors at the best price. Medicare is designed to ensure that seniors get the best care at a great price, not to ensure that certain well connected companies and industries are able to earn super profits.

Allow consumers to purchase their prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies or alter reimbursement to the price of Canadian prescription drugs. Canadian citizens have access to the same medications at a lower price. It is insane that American seniors don't have access to the same lower prices. The prescription drug lobby is strong, but not stronger than the American people. Either the American people move forward with allowing prescription drugs to come across the border or the reimbursement rates get changed to the amount that would be paid if they were. Our seniors can't afford this special interest deal any longer.

There are additional ideas that we'll discuss as the campaign continues. I look forward to speaking with you about these ideas as Medicare is one of the most important social programs that has recently come under attack. Medicare must remain strong!

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