According to the American Association for Retired Persons (AARP), 70 million individuals are estimated to be Medicare beneficiaries over the next 20 years, compared to 45.2 million in 2008.
On its Website, the AARP provides some useful information for assessing plan changes in 2011.
- Some drug and health plans will disappear in 2011, but unrelated to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).
- Some prescription plans will not be available in 2011, in part because insurers offering two or three plans must now make each significantly different. One such plan is the AARP MedicareRx Saver plan, and another is the PrescribaRx Bronze. However, if your plan disappears in 2011, you will automatically be enrolled in another plan offered by the same insurer (or you can choose a different plan at the appropriate time).
- There will be new plans in 2011 (including 28 plans in Hawaii to 38 in Pennsylvania and West Virginia).
- Some non-managed-care plans known as private fee-for-service (PFFS) will no longer participate in Medicare, but not for reasons related to PPACA. As these plans must now contract directly with providers (doctors, hospitals, etc.), 196 will be gone.
For additional information, visit the AARP Website or the Federal Government’s 2011 Medicare and You Handbook.
My mother was sent home after a femoral artery bypass .She has a drop foot from this ,needs 24 hr. care. She was not accepted at our local rehab. center because we were told she is to mobil . She had to be bed ridden in order to go. That the new Medicare laws have changed. She is 86 at this time. I guess I just don’t understand . The nurses that take care of her also told me this.
The US is the only 1st world nation wiotuht universal healthcare, the US also pays 2 times more per person for healthcare then anyone else, and the US is behind all 1st world and many developing countries for quality of heathcare. Any way you look at it universal healthcare is better.