On Friday, KQED’s Forum offered a look at Medicare and Medicaid to mark the programs' 50-year anniversary. Stanford health policy researcher Laurence Baker, PhD, participated in the discussion, which covered issues such as how the programs drive the way prices for care are negotiated with medical providers, how the large population of Baby Boomers will affect the system, and how reimbursement rates affect the kind of care Medicare and Medicaid patients receive.
The panel also discussed the gaps in coverage — services like dental care are not covered by Medicare — and the challenges they create. Medicare coverage has grown from the narrow set of conditions it first covered, and Baker thinks the conditions are right to begin a new national conversation about expanding coverage:
One of the things that’s really ripe for discussion is how this country is going to handle the long-term care issues. Medicare’s got to be at the center of that. And it almost feels like the time is coming that we’re going to have to think about that much more seriously.
And when host Mina Kim asked Baker the question that’s on a lot of people’s mind — Is Medicare sustainable for the long term? — Baker noted:
The program is pretty important; it’s clearly something the country values across the political spectrum. Lots of people want to see it sustained. It may not be a pretty process. It might not be fun to watch the politics of how we work all this out, but there are lots of ways to keep the program solvent, so I’m optimistic.
Previously: Competition keeps health-care costs low, Stanford study finds, What's the going rate? Examining variations in private payments to physicians, Check the map – medical procedure rates vary widely across California, Medicare payment reform shown to cut costs and improve patient care and KQED health program focuses on baby boomers and the future of Medicare
Photo by Garry Knight
