As a state senator representing rural communities in southeastern South Dakota and a practicing Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist at a critical access hospital, I see every day just how important access to health care is for folks across our state, especially those who rely on Medicare.
Access to healthcare is a critical issue for all Americans--with Medicare on the chopping block of the incoming Republican leadership, folks are worried. Some call for medicare for all or a single payer system and a shift away from healthcare as a for profit business. There is no denying healthcare in America is the most expensive in the industrialized world and has the worst outcomes. The murder of UHG's executive is generating little sympathy given that UHG denies some 36% of claims and those denials are part of a "proprietary" AI software system that is seeing a roughly 90% error rate.
Those denials on top of net income of over 23 billion in 2023 and a lawsuit that accuses executives of selling off stock prior to the public announcement of said lawsuit and the subsequent stock price drop. Somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of bankruptcies are due to medical debt. I'm sympathetic to providers, but until we tackle the disaster that is healthcare in the US, especially with people saying it's time to cut medicare and medicaid and social security because "we can't afford it" when it's generating record profits, something has to give.
Heart, also consider that the head, the CEO of UH is a Brit - with government healthcare as his birthright. And consider that every time one hears politicians spouting about 'privatizing' the VA healthcare, and 'privatizing' MEDICARE/MEDICAID - what they want is creating private profits via declining claims for service that's paid for.
"Right now, Medicare reimbursement rates barely cover the actual costs of care..."
I know of no healthcare facility that went bankrupt because Medicare reimbursement caused it to go under...
In fact, some years ago, the CEO of a heart hospital in Sioux Falls told our local medical society (he was invited as a speaker) that their facility "made enough from Medicare" to always accept Medicare patients...
This is just another unproven and indefensible gaslighting mantra by physicians parroting their professional organization's talking points...
I use Medicare and due to knowing a person who has had to work with them while being in billing office position, I know that SD pays less than any other state! I also believe that SD Medicare should be investigated. 1 year ago last January, they determined that a Medicare person who is entitled to one walker in their lifetime, Medicare decides to give them one w/o brakes! Any idiot knows that if you are in a Senior Facility they will not allow you to use one w/o brakes! Therefore the patient has to pay for it! What's wrong with the staff in the Medicare office for SD????
Access to healthcare is a critical issue for all Americans--with Medicare on the chopping block of the incoming Republican leadership, folks are worried. Some call for medicare for all or a single payer system and a shift away from healthcare as a for profit business. There is no denying healthcare in America is the most expensive in the industrialized world and has the worst outcomes. The murder of UHG's executive is generating little sympathy given that UHG denies some 36% of claims and those denials are part of a "proprietary" AI software system that is seeing a roughly 90% error rate.
Those denials on top of net income of over 23 billion in 2023 and a lawsuit that accuses executives of selling off stock prior to the public announcement of said lawsuit and the subsequent stock price drop. Somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of bankruptcies are due to medical debt. I'm sympathetic to providers, but until we tackle the disaster that is healthcare in the US, especially with people saying it's time to cut medicare and medicaid and social security because "we can't afford it" when it's generating record profits, something has to give.
Heart, also consider that the head, the CEO of UH is a Brit - with government healthcare as his birthright. And consider that every time one hears politicians spouting about 'privatizing' the VA healthcare, and 'privatizing' MEDICARE/MEDICAID - what they want is creating private profits via declining claims for service that's paid for.
"Right now, Medicare reimbursement rates barely cover the actual costs of care..."
I know of no healthcare facility that went bankrupt because Medicare reimbursement caused it to go under...
In fact, some years ago, the CEO of a heart hospital in Sioux Falls told our local medical society (he was invited as a speaker) that their facility "made enough from Medicare" to always accept Medicare patients...
This is just another unproven and indefensible gaslighting mantra by physicians parroting their professional organization's talking points...
I use Medicare and due to knowing a person who has had to work with them while being in billing office position, I know that SD pays less than any other state! I also believe that SD Medicare should be investigated. 1 year ago last January, they determined that a Medicare person who is entitled to one walker in their lifetime, Medicare decides to give them one w/o brakes! Any idiot knows that if you are in a Senior Facility they will not allow you to use one w/o brakes! Therefore the patient has to pay for it! What's wrong with the staff in the Medicare office for SD????
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2801097