Potential Effects of National Health Insurance Proposals on Medicare Beneficiaries
Highlights
Medicare was established to protect the elderly against the costs of inpatient hospital care. The proposed Comprehensive Health Insurance Act of 1974 (CHIP) would combine parts A and B of Medicare and would modify Medicare's cost-sharing formulas and limit beneficiaries' liability based on income. The proposed National Health Insurance Act of 1974 (Kennedy-Mills proposal) would leave the Medicare cost-sharing formula essentially the same but would limit the beneficiaries' liability based on income. The proposed Catastrophic Health Insurance and Medical Assistance Reform Act (Long-Ribicoff proposal) would, essentially, supplement Medicare's existing benefits by covering catastrophic illnesses. Both the CHIP and the Kennedy-Mills proposal would use credit cards (program payments would be made in full to participating providers, such as hospitals, on behalf of beneficiaries).