VA Health Care System Rated Highly in Government Report
A recent report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the VA (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) does a much better job controlling health care costs than the private sector delivery system...
View ArticleRating Medicare Advantage Plans
Back in April I asked the question “How good are Arizona Medicare Advantage plans?” My post described the process for rating Advantage plans and noted how our plans stack up against the rest of the...
View ArticleReport: Medicare Advantage Trends
While many observers are predicting the end of Medicare Advantage, enrollment in these private Medicare plans grew by 5.7% from 2009 to 2010. In March 2010, 11.1 million Medicare beneficiaries were...
View ArticleMyths About Medicare
There is a lot of misinformation about Medicare on the internet, in the press, and in the minds of many seniors. Recently, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPac) produced a data book on...
View ArticleMedicare and the Budget
In fiscal year 2010, Medicare spending totaled $524 billion, accounting for 20 percent of national health expenditures, 15 percent of the federal budget, and 3.6 percent of the gross domestic product...
View ArticleChanges to Medigap coming?
The never-ending discussions on reducing government spending are targeting Medicare. Seniors must pay more for their medical care, or they will use the health care system too much. Several plans have...
View ArticleMedicare Voices: video
I’ve been talking to seniors about their thoughts on Medicare, the debate over making changes to the program, and what Medicare means to them. I thought it would be interesting to see and hear seniors...
View ArticleMedicare Cuts Under Obamacare
“Obama cuts $716 billion from Medicare!” That’s what Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan say. “Obamacare saves Medicare $716 billion!”, according to Democrats. Who is right, and where do these cuts/savings come...
View ArticleRomney’s Medicare Plan
When you see a politician on television, do you want to talk back to him? This is my “talkback” to Mitt Romney’s presentation on Medicare: [tnivideo caption="Talkback to Romney"...
View ArticleMedicare History: Tucson’s Congressman Mo Udall
After reading the Washington Post article that looks back on the start up of Medicare in 1966, I googled “Udall and Medicare” to find documents I had come across a few years ago. The material from...
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