The Michigan Endoscopy Center in Novi, Michigan has a unique offer for free GI procedures.  This free service is made available by rules of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.  Michigan Endoscopy Center has CMS approval until the end of the year at its new surgery center in Novi to provide these tests free of charge.  These procedures cost around $3,000, so this is a real benefit to veterans that may not have income, insurance or healthcare.

Colonoscopy’s make a great holiday gift! …one size fits all, they can’t be returned and just might save a life!

To see if you qualify, please contact the Center’s administrator at the number below.

Brien Fausone, MA, MBA

Administrator
Michigan Endoscopy Center
(248) 865-6555 phone
bfausone@endoctr.com

Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact a veterans lawyer, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800

Obamacare has influenced major changes in the United States’ health care system, especially in Medicare.

By Chris Berry

Recently the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) updated its Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollment estimates, projecting a major increase in seniors who will be enrolled in MA plans by 2023. With conflicting enrollment projections, MA is left with mixed signals regarding its future. It remains to be seen how Obamacare’s significant reductions will affect MA plans and how beneficiaries will react to potential changes to MA plans.

(Related: Obamacare’s Impact on Medicare Advantage)

The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB), through Obamacare, provides news powers for additional cuts in Medicare. IPAB is made up of 15 unelected bureaucrats who must meet a newly created Medicare spending target. In the event that spending surpasses the target, the board must make recommendations to Congress that will rein in spending.

The ability to cut physicians reimbursement rates is the only major tool available to IPAB that could reduce Medicare spending. For the first time since 2016, the trustees project that Medicare spending will surpass the target spending level. Mostly as a result of constantly-increasing government regulations and uncertainty of reimbursement, doctors are departing from the Medicare program.

(Related: Medicare Advantage Increases Popularity Despite Obamacare Cuts)

 Information was released from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that 9,539 physicians who had accepted Medicare opted out of the program in 2012, a major leap from the 3,700 who dropped out in 2009.

Because Obamacare gradually lowers seniors’ out-of-pocket costs in the Medicare Part D coverage gap, commonly knows as the “donut hole,” it will raise the cost of the Part D benefit, a portion of which will be passed along to the beneficiaries.

According to the CBO, “enacting those changes would lead to an average increase in premiums for Part D beneficiaries of about 4 percent in 2011, rising to about 9 percent in 2019.” Of the 48.6 million Medicare enrollees in 2011, just 3.6 million actually fell into the category of the donut hole.

(Related: Obamacare and Long-Term Care Insurance)

This average premium increase means a lot considering how few seniors actually fall into the gap. While the average premiums of all Part D beneficiaries will increase, of the 48.6 million Medicare enrollees in 2011, only 3.6 million actually fell into the donut hole.

Christopher J. Berry is an elder law lawyer in Michigan Dedicated to helping seniors, veterans and their families navigate the long-term care maze. To learn more visit http://www.theeldercarefirm.com/ or call 248.481.4000

Obamacare has implemented major changes in the United States’ health care system, especially in Medicare.

By Chris Berry

Obamacare mandates $716 billion in Medicare payment reductions from 2013 to 2022. These across-the-board changes in Medicare payment formulas include a number of Medicare providers, including hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, and hospice agencies.

(Related: Retirement Savings Should Go Far Beyond Pension Plans)

While politicians will do their best to convince you that Medicare payment reductions only influence providers and not beneficiaries, the reality is that funding cuts for Medicare services will affect those who depend on those services.

Seniors’ ability to access Medicare services will continue to wither away if Congress continues to implement Obamacare’s major reductions. Medicare Trustees project that as a result of lower Medicare payment rates, 15 percent of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies will no longer be profitable by 2019, and jump to 25 percent in 2030.

(Related: How to Choose a Caregiver)

The difficulty which seniors are experiencing accessing care is certain to increase if Obamacare continues to be implemented. Medicare’s payments for health services would drop increasingly below provider’s costs. As a result, providers will not be able to sustain continuing negative margins and would be forced to withdraw from serving Medicare beneficiaries or shift a major percentage of Medicare costs to their non-Medicare, non-Medicaid payers.

Along with the providers payment reductions, Obamacare reduces payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans by an estimated $156 billion from 2013 to 2022. Roughly 27 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in MA plans. MA plans are appealing to beneficiaries because they offer more generous and comprehensive coverage than traditional Medicare by capping out-of-pocket costs and offering drug coverage.

(Related: VA Initiative Could Increase the Dollar Benefit for Disability Claims)

After Obamacare was enacted 2010, the Medicare Actuary projected that the impact of Obamacare’s cuts would be dramatic: “We estimate that in 2017, when the MA provisions will be fully phased in, enrollment in MA plans will be lower by about 50 percent (from its projected level of 14.8 million under the prior law to 7.4 million under the new law).” As a result, these enrollees would have to enroll a traditional Medicare program that was less generous and ultimately cause them to lose their current health plan and be subject to increased out-of-pocket costs.

Christopher J. Berry is a Michigan elder law attorney Dedicated to helping seniors, veterans and their families navigate the long-term care maze. To learn more visit http://www.theeldercarefirm.com/ or call 248.481.4000