Letters
Medicare
and Medicaid: not the same thing
Editor:
I seem to
be missing something when considering Wills v Foster, 372 Ill App
3d 670, 867 NE2d 1223 (4th D 2007) ("Collateral source rule and med
bills - plaintiff's, defense bar each win one," LawPulse,
July Journal). The majority refers to "Medicare or Medicaid,
which provides health benefits to certain needy individuals" and
to those individuals, "like plaintiff here, covered by Medicaid or
Medicare do not make 'expenditures' and have not bargained for their coverage,"
and to "Medicare and Medicaid recipients, who lack the funds to acquire
insurance, are placed at a disadvantage from those who are financially
able to secure insurance."
The dissent
refers to a "Medicare or Medicaid recipient....[who is] a needy person
who did not have the ability or resources to acquire private insurance."
As Gershwin wrote, "It ain't necessarily so." Medicare is not
the same as Medicaid.
People covered
by Medicare get their coverage in three parts. Medicare Part A covers
blood, home health services, hospice care, hospital stays, and skilled
nursing facility care. It's true that "Most people automatically
get Part A coverage without having to pay a monthly payment, called a
premium." But it's not because they are poor or needy. "This
is because they or a spouse paid Medicare taxes while working." Medicare
and You 2007, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (the "Book")
at page 8 [on the Web at http://www.medicare.gov/publications/pubs/pdf/10050.pdf
] . Indeed, I've been covered by Medicare for more than four years and
I'm still paying Medicare taxes.
Medicare Part
B covers medical services like doctors' services, outpatient care, and
other medical services that Part A doesn't cover. You pay a premium each
month for Part B coverage. Book at page 10. Starting January 1
of this year some people pay a higher premium, depending on their income.
Book at page 11.
The third
part of Medicare, prescription drug coverage, is Part D, and you either
pay a premium or join a Medicare plan (like an HMO or PPO) that provides
the coverage. Book at page 43.
Medicare recipients
are not "needy individuals" "who lack the funds to acquire
insurance." They are people who have paid Medicare taxes and are
paying Medicare premiums for their coverage. Indeed, many Medicare recipients
are also paying premiums for a supplement policy that covers some of the
holes in Medicare coverage.
Benjamin H.
Cohen
Chicago
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