on in 1998, a $2.5 billion dollar decrease in just one year. Thats pretty impressive considering there were more hospital admissions that year than any previous year.Not only were hospitals hit hard by the drop in Medicare payments, the managed-care industry took severe loses as well. A special report in Modern Healthcare said that Medicare managed-care annual enrollment growth has decreased from 36.2% in 1995 to a mere 4.8% in 1999. For the year 2001, 65 managed-care providers already have notified the government that they will be dropping out of Medicare. This will require an estimated 934,000 beneficiaries to switch HMO plans. (A.P Gore Outlines) When the government does not pay the managed-care companies enough money to cover the cost of their Medicare patients, they have no choice but to stop accepting Medicare patients.Bill Clinton and the current administration realize that the cuts they made in Medicare payments have been to deep. They are now proposing boosts in Medicare payments. President Clinton proposed a $21 billion boost in Medicare payments over five years for hospitals and other health care providers Tuesday, saying, Medicare patients are at risk because of insufficient spending. (A.P. Clinton: Medicare needs) The $21 billion dollars helps, but it is only 11% of the amount cut by the BBA. It is fairly obvious that Medicare is already being stretched to its feasible limits, but Al Gore does not think so. Gore has proposed using a $338 billion of the projected 10-year budget surplus to add a prescription-drug benefit to Medicare that gives free complete coverage to the elderly poor and a voluntary cost-sharing benefit to others. (A.P. Gore Outlines)Perhaps the Administration should resolve the problems caused by the BBA before they try to expand Medicare coverage.In summary it can be said that the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 has had many negative effects on the health care industry as a whole. By eliminating the Medicare ...
