Frailty Care and Health Care Expenses
The Medicare program still pays for acute health care for all older Americans, although it faces the same structural shifts as Social Security and, therefore, faces the same threats to programmatic stability. Attempts to incentivize health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to expand the traditional Medicare benefits package by providing dental, chronic prescription drug, and other therapies not otherwise included in original Medicare have not worked well and are declining. The expense of most acute care provided to retirees by their own physicians, in hospitals of their own choosing, is still covered by Medicare at rates for which providers are still willing to work. (more…)
