The History Of Medicare And Government In Medicine

Written By: Shawn Cook on September 27, 2010 No Comment

A national government health care program, Medicare provides health care benefits to seniors, younger people with specific disabilities, and patients with end stage renal disease. The history of Medicare began in 1945 when President Harry Truman strongly advocated some type of government health care delivery system. Back then there was no such thing as managed care, and doctors simply charged a fee for their service. Of interest, in 1940, America had something called a two-tiered system. Paying patients in hospitals stayed in private rooms, while non-paying patients spent their hospital stay in a ward shared with many other patients.

Some might say that Truman wanting to initiate a national health care plan was a precursor to President Obama’s new federal health care law. Both Medicare and Obama’s law have been defined as socialized medicine, mostly by individuals opposing these programs.

Twenty years after Truman’s efforts for affordable health care for all, in 1965 President Lyndon Johnson signed the Medicare and Medicaid law. Medicaid is a related program that provides assistance to very low income or indigent people. Johnson’s efforts actually were subsequent to those of the assassinated, John F. Kennedy.

Over the 45 years since its inception, Medicare has been revised several times. There were ancillary services added in 1972, such as speech therapy and physical therapy. Also in 1972 Medicare began to provide some payment benefits to patients’ health maintenance organizations.

As medicine progressed and made science prolonged lives, Medicare reacted by adding benefits for hospice care in 1982. However, a few years later in 1989, other benefits were repealed. Medicare no longer included catastrophic care and prescription drugs. This came as a rude awakening to elderly patients who could not afford the high cost of prescription drugs.

The cost of Medicare has escalated since its beginnings. In 1965 the monthly premium for medical insurance, Part B, was a mere three dollars. Today that same premium is $96.40 a month. However, Part A, hospital costs now range from $254 to $461 per month. When it comes to Medicare, nothing is simple. There are co-pays, carve-outs and ceilings on major expenses like the amount allowed per day for hospital stays and skilled nursing facilities. The cost of health care continues to be a major source of concern for an aging population.

The complexities of Medicare, Medicare approved HMOs, State and Federal contributions and co-pays have created a system so complicated that the elderly often need help to understand their benefits. Furthermore, every year there are additional changes. It can be difficult to keep up with all those changes.

Today, President Truman’s vision has become President Obama’s reality. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is law, but it will take years for it all to go into effect. There will be unintended consequences, some good, some bad. The Act is 906 pages long. Can anyone really understand all of the law’s provisions? In theory, Americans may not want more people to equal more government. In reality, more government for America’s ever growing population seems to be an unavoidable fact. Can America afford Obama’s affordable health care act? The history of Medicare will continue to develop. Its level of socialism has yet to be determined.

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