Financing Care in the Aging Athlete
On January 1, 2013, Congress was scheduled to role back Medicare payments to physicians across the board by 26.5%. The anticipated result was a marked reduction in physicians willing to take care or Medicare recipients. Greed? No, owing to governmental and private insurer imposed bureaucracy, between mandated compliance with HIPPA, Electronic Medical Records, Precertification, third party Billing and Collection, etc, etc. an orthopedic practice requires 5.5 full time equivalent support for each practicing physician. I am not even adding the cost of medical malpractice indemnification to the equation, or the possible legal issues settlement (learn more class action lawyer info for such cases).
American Medical News (1/3, Fiegl) reported that “Spending reductions in other areas of Medicare were used to offset the $25.2 billion cost” of the “doc fix” which “overrides a 26.5% cut to Medicare pay” scheduled to have taken effect January 1. Notable these cuts include $10.5 billion from Hospitals.
The Philadelphia Inquirer (1/3, Brubaker) reported “The biggest chunk of trims falls in the five-year period from 2014 to 2018, when Medicare will reduce hospital payments by $10.5 billion. Medicare authorities will recoup what they consider overpayments to hospitals caused by a new system of diagnosing patients.”
The Kaiser Health News (1/3, Galewitz) “Capsules” blog reports that in order to pay for the doc fix, the fiscal cliff deal “eliminates most of the more than $1.4 billion in remaining funding from the federal health law for new nonprofit, customer-owned health plans designed to compete against the major for-profit insurers,” known as co-ops. This means the Obama Administration “won’t be able to approve loans to any additional co-ops,” though the “nearly $2 billion in loans to 24 proposed state co-ops” will not be affected.
Left out of initial deal, cuts to entitlement programs likely in coming months.
“So how do I pay for an uncovered Regenerative Medicine Procedure as I want to remain an aging athlete?” Consider and explore a Health Care Savings Account.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) are based on the concept that individuals save and pay for their own medical needs and are founded on a response to escalating health care costs. HSAs address some of the main inefficiencies in of private and governmental insurance-moral hazard, escalating costs, adverse selection and gaps in coverage. The alternative is a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) with your employer. CBS MONEY WATCH December 10, 2012 featured How to find the right Health Savings Account
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505145_162-57558170/how-to-find-the-right-health-savings-account/
Another Internet source of information is to be found at www.getrichslowly.org in a blog appearing on December 6th, 2012 by Kristin Wong
The most recent analysis was posted on www.foxbusiness.com by Donna Fuscaldo published January 03,2013 Changes Coming for health-Care Savings Plans
As of this time, the majority of Stem Cell and PRP interventions when used as indicated have resulted in a high degree of patient satisfaction with no known adverse consequences other than an occasional 1 to 4 hour swelling and pain response with spontaneous resolution. If you want to continue as an athlete as you age, investigate Regenerative Medicine. We have just completed a six month observation; there is an average weight loss response for patients who underwent Stem Cell interventions in 2012 as compared to those studied in a recently published scientific article documenting an average weight gain for patients who underwent a total joint replacement. Limitations of activity after a total joint replacement?
Tags: Health Savings Account, HSA