The Medicare program’s history goes back to 1912, when President Roosevelt suggested a health insurance platform for all Americans. Roosevelt’s idea was implemented 54 years later, when President Johnson signed legislation to launch the program. President Truman, and his wife became the first official Medicare beneficiaries due to his contribution in pushing the program forward (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). Since the organization’s spendings fluctuate yearly, some parts of Medicare, like the Part A trust fund, were expected to be exhausted by 2026 but due to low spending rise it will be functioning until 2028.
During the 60s history of Medicare officially began with a budget of 10 million USD. The program was available for seniors 65 years and older in Part A, which showed the effect of the program in the couple following years (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). The 70s were remembered with a significant change passed by President Nixon to provide Medicare for people with disabilities and end-stage renal disease within three months (ESRD). The difference was substantial since ERSD is an expensive and destructive disease.
Throughout the 80s, Congress created the Omnibus Reconciliation Act, which covered more health services and provided lesser bills for supplements to beneficiaries. The new law endorsed by the decade’s end added a new limit to Part A and Part B expenses. It also started covering Medicare premiums for which Qualified Medicare Beneficiaries have to be people with income less than 100% of the federal poverty level (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). In the next ten years, the legislation started covering Medicare Premiums to Specified Low-Income Medicare Beneficiary, a group of people with an income level between 100% and 120% of the federal poverty level. In addition, the Qualified Individual program was passed in the 90s, allowing people with incomes from 120% to 135% of the poverty rate receive Medicare premiums (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part C was a drug benefit program for new enrollers regulated by the Affordable Care Act.
Medicare often has a waiting period for beneficiaries which fluctuates depending on the specific group. In the 2000s, the waiting period for Americans with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis under age 65 was eliminated if patients qualified for Social Security Disability Insurance income. The year 2003 was remembered by President Bush signing a Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act law, which appeared as Part D in the program (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). The organization had over 45 million Medicare beneficiaries as of 2019 who were eligible for Part D, which shows the act’s effectiveness. In 2010 the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act appeared with a long list of reforms to maintain the increasing revenue necessary to satisfy the costs and improve other aspects like income-related monthly adjustment amount (IRMAA).
One of the significant program changes in the past seven years was the 2015 Medicare and CHIP Reauthorization Act, which aims to avoid cuts from doctor’s payments under Part B. The Act catalyzed new ways to pay doctors for care while at the same time preventing a decrease in the quality of healthcare services (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). New brackets in IRMAA allow individuals with higher incomes to qualify for Medicare benefits. The figures also show that premiums which cost 3 USD per month in the early 2000s, are 164.90 dollars starting from 2023 (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). The COVID-19 outbreak resulted in massive changes in the Medicare program, some of which will remain even after the pandemic.
Some plans include free vaccines under Medicare Part D due to the Inflation Regulation Act. Additionally, insulin products will be offered at most 35 dollars per month (A brief history of Medicare in America 2022). In the following years, more people will have access to Low-Income Subsidies and premiums. Some negotiations with drug producers about high-cost drugs will begin by the end of the decade, and more drugs should become affordable every year since then.
Reference
A brief history of Medicare in America. (2022). Web.