Posted: Saturday, September 19, 2009 1:00 am | Updated: 7:45 pm, Fri Sep 18, 2009.
By Peter Adelsen Perspective staff writer padelsen@kokomoperspective.com | 0 comments
Many turned out to Congressman Dan Burton's seniors and baby boomers healthcare forum on Friday at Kresge Auditorium on the Indiana University Kokomo campus.
The issue was healthcare focusing on Medicare, the Senior Health Insurance Information Program (SHIP) and Social Security. Burton, R-5th District, also spoke about government-run healthcare that has been a hot topic this summer.
Burton and representatives of the Social Security Administration, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) informed the audience about healthcare concerns including warning signs of scams and the possible future of healthcare. They later answered the audience's questions.
Burton continued to talk to his constituents about his concerns with HR 3200, the healthcare bill that the Democrats have presented. He said that it would be cheaper for employers to drop their private insurance and go with the government plan.
"They will be encouraged to take their employees off of that private account and put them on the government account, which will be subsidized by the government," Burton said. "They would have to pay an 8 percent tax, which will be less than their current coverage. That's going to push people into the government plan and the plan will be controlled by a government regulator and that's something that we are concerned about."
He also said that the government could come between the patient and the doctor and that there could be rationing of care based upon life expectancy.
"This kind of mindset and thinking among the people who are advising the president on healthcare disturbs me a great deal, not because of my age, but because of what it means for society as a whole," he said. "Healthcare should not be rationed and should not pick people out and saying one person deserves healthcare when another one doesn't. And we shouldn't base it on statistics. I don't know how old Einstein was when he came up with the theory of relativity, but I don't think that he was an infant."
Burton added that the lowest figure of a cost for this plan would be $870 over 10 years. He also said a more realistic figure from the Congressional Budget Office has said a government-run plan would cost between $1 trillion and 3 trillion over the next decade. He also said that about 8 million seniors who have Medicare Advantage would lose it.
Cinthia Michel, an external affairs liaison with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said that there are many people who pretend that they are from Medicare to take advantage of senior citizens.
"Medicare will never ever ask you for your bank account numbers over the telephone," Michel said. "It is amazing how often we get individuals who call us and they say they gave their bank account numbers along with their social security numbers to some stranger on the phone because he or she indicated that they were from Medicare or from the Department of Health and Human Services. If you get a call from someone who act like they are from Medicare ask them for their phone number and their name to call back and then call Medicare to ask if that is a legitimate survey."
Michel also said if a person receives a Medicare summary notice to open it so people know how much to pay on the procedure performed on the person. She says to take note of the date on the notice because it tells when the person has the right to appeal the claim that was denied. It will also tell the procedures that were done and the provider, she said.
"When you receive services as a Medicare beneficiary, that provider whether it is a hospital, a doctor, a lab, whoever cannot collect one dime from you until Medicare has made its determination," she said.
Michael Dorris of National Government Services, a Medicare contractor since 1966, said to the audience to make sure that the Social Security Administration has the person's current address in order to collect a live check.
"The biggest reason why is because if we send you a live check, it cannot be forwarded to your new address if it is not updated with Social Security," he said.
Medicare is only available with the United States' borders and in American waters, he said.
If people ever have questions regarding Medicare, they ask them to call Medicare at 1-800-Medicare and press "0" or say "agent" to get a person on the line.
As people grow older and times change, these programs also change, said John Williams, public affairs specialist with the Social Security Administration.
"Important programs like Medicare and Social Security do need to change over time because society changes and the economy changes and our needs as individuals do change, so important government programs need to be changed by Congress also to keep pace with all of that," Williams said.
http://kokomoperspective.com/news/local_news/article_3e2bd97e-a4aa-11de-8b50-001cc4c03286.html
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