Medicare's Midlife Crisis

Rating:
Summary: "Must Read" for those Unacquainted with how Medicare Works
Review: "This valuable book draws together key aspects of the Medicare story seldom combined in a single volume. Sue Blevins (R.N., M.P.H., M.S.), president of the Institute for Health Freedom, describes Medicare's key characteristics, analyzes its consequences for current and future retirees, outline's the programs historical evolution, and formulates an agenda for reform. Medicare's "midlife crisis" includes, among other things, the inexorable rise in Medicare spending, the beneficiaries' ever-rising out-of-pocket medical costs, the reduction in the number of taxpaying workers per Medicare beneficiary because of the retirement of the "baby-boom" generation, the threat to medical privacy associated with efforts to reduce Medicare fraud, and Medicare's impending bankruptcy. Blevin's concern is what needs to be done to remedy that midlife crisis."

"This volume provides a useful reference for general readers and medical professionals. Its greatest strength is in combining, in a highly readable and concise volume, practical information about how Medicare works and insightful analysis of Medicare's history, consequences, and possible reform. Its weaknesses are chiefly organizational, including a sometimes disconcerting tendency to repeat facts previously discussed. "Medicare's Midlife Crisis" is intended primarily for those not acquainted with how Medicare actually works and how it originated. I would strongly recommend it to a friend who wanted to inform himself quickly about the Medicare issue."

"This book is not about political or economic theory; it is about Medicare's history, administration, and practical effects. Its great virtue is blending the historical with the current, the political dynamics with the actual effects of Medicare. As such, "Medicare's Midlife Crisis" will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers."

Rating:
Summary: "Must Read" for those Unacquainted with how Medicare Works
Review: "This valuable book draws together key aspects of the Medicare story seldom combined in a single volume. Sue Blevins (R.N., M.P.H., M.S.), president of the Institute for Health Freedom, describes Medicare's key characteristics, analyzes its consequences for current and future retirees, outline's the programs historical evolution, and formulates an agenda for reform. Medicare's "midlife crisis" includes, among other things, the inexorable rise in Medicare spending, the beneficiaries' ever-rising out-of-pocket medical costs, the reduction in the number of taxpaying workers per Medicare beneficiary because of the retirement of the "baby-boom" generation, the threat to medical privacy associated with efforts to reduce Medicare fraud, and Medicare's impending bankruptcy. Blevin's concern is what needs to be done to remedy that midlife crisis."

"This volume provides a useful reference for general readers and medical professionals. Its greatest strength is in combining, in a highly readable and concise volume, practical information about how Medicare works and insightful analysis of Medicare's history, consequences, and possible reform. Its weaknesses are chiefly organizational, including a sometimes disconcerting tendency to repeat facts previously discussed. "Medicare's Midlife Crisis" is intended primarily for those not acquainted with how Medicare actually works and how it originated. I would strongly recommend it to a friend who wanted to inform himself quickly about the Medicare issue."

"This book is not about political or economic theory; it is about Medicare's history, administration, and practical effects. Its great virtue is blending the historical with the current, the political dynamics with the actual effects of Medicare. As such, "Medicare's Midlife Crisis" will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers."

Rating:
Summary: What you don't know about Medicare, but definitely should.
Review: If you are 65 or 25, you must read this book. Why?
Because everyone of us is affected by Medicare now --
regardless of age. If you're 25, you are affected by the
Medicare taxes taken from your paychecks. If you're 65,
Medicare rules your health care.

Ms. Blevins has written a concise and informative expose
about this immensely expensive and influential bureaucracy.
She tells the story of Medicare with six eye-opening chapters:
1. Don't Know Much About Medicare?
2. The Push for Compulsory Health Insurance: EarlyInternational and National Efforts.
3. Medicare's Enactment in the United States: From State to
State to Federal Coverage.
4. Did Government Officials Ignore the True Costs of Medicare?
5. How Has Medicare Affected Seniors?
6. Medicare Reform in the 21st Century: Time for True Choice
and Competition.

Learning about Medicare doesn't sound like a necessary, let
alone interesting thing to do -- at least, that's what I
thought before reading Ms. Blevins' book. However, my
outlook quickly changed after only reading a few pages
of Chapter 1.

Rating:
Summary: Tells how Medicare should be restructured
Review: Proposed Medicare 'reforms' will hurt seniors and consumers alike: Medicare's Midlife Crisis tells how Medicare should be restructured to help reduce the impact of change on those who need it most. Medicare's growth, Blevins argues, has forced seniors into restrictive health choices and has raised issues of privacy. Issues of freedom of choice for seniors come into play as Blevins examples the problems of a single-payer government healthcare system.

Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading for every AARP member
Review: This is a concise, well told tale of the morass that the Medicare program has become. Although Blevins described herself as a "policy wonk" to me in a recent interview, the book is well written, and clearly explains a complex subject.

The book tracks the early efforts at compulsory insurance efforts, on the national as well as the international scene, up to recent schemes for expanding the program by adding a prescription drug entitlement.

Waste, fraud, abuse and misuse account for some 800 million to 1.6 billion dollars yearly in this program. And, as Blevins points out, "If health care costs continue to rise with fewer workers to finance the program, the federal government will have to raise taxes, increase seniors' out-of-pocket costs, reduce benefits, or implement a combination of these reforms."

Most seniors believe that Medicare pays for everything. Nothing could be further from the truth. The tables in the appendices outlining the payment limitations should be read by everyone who uses Medicare to pay for their medical expenses.