Roy Blunt: "Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy"
The Missouri Democratic Party has posted video of comments from Roy Blunt made this past weekend, in which Blunt states: "We've had Medicare since 1965, and Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy. If there's any opportunity for more healthy activity, it's going to be, again, a private, competitive..."
It's an incredible claim, but consistent with his comments a few weeks ago that it would have been best if Medicare and Medicaid had never been created. This may be new information for Blunt, but a lot of his constituents are much healthier because of Medicare, and they like it very much.
From the National Journal:
According to a national CAHPS [Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems] survey conducted by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in 2007, 56 percent of enrollees in traditional fee-for-service Medicare give their "health plan" a rating of 9 or 10 on a 0-10 scale. Similarly, 60 percent of seniors enrolled in Medicare Managed Care rated their plans a 9 or 10. But according to the CAHPS surveys compiled by HHS, only 40 percent of Americans enrolled in private health insurance gave their plans a 9 or 10 rating.
More importantly, the higher scores for Medicare are based on perceptions of better access to care. More than two thirds (70 percent) of traditional Medicare enrollees say they "always" get access to needed care (appointments with specialists or other necessary tests and treatment), compared with 63 percent in Medicare managed care plans and only 51 percent of those with private insurance.
Medicare also pays for a lot of preventative services, including:
- Cardiovascular Screening
- Smoking Cessation (Counseling to quit smoking)
- Cancer Tests
- Shots
- Bone Mass Measurements
- Diabetes Screening, Supplies, and Self Management Training
- Glaucoma Tests
- One-time "Welcome to Medicare" Physical Exam
- Medical Nutrition Therapy
- Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm (AAA)
- Other Health Information
But in Blunt's world, none of those make people any healthier. Say what?
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Let's not forget...
...that the variety of medical specialties we enjoy in the U.S....all those cardiologists and neurosurgeons and gastroenterologists and whatnot...exist in such numbers because Medicare dollars subsidize teaching hospitals.
Before 1965, most doctors did the traditional one year rotating internship and hung up their shingles as GP's because residencies truly were "residencies"--$500 a year, clean white outfits, a bed upstairs in the hospital, and free food--and most young docs could not afford to spend those years for that kind of indebted servant arrangement.
When residency salaries could at least get to the level of high school teacher salaries, young docs could afford to do them, and have a family life besides.
How many lives have been saved in this country b/c young doctors could afford to get specialty training?
Hello, Hinnus!
Welcome back, Hinnus! Been mssing you.
Get a clue.
I wouldn't believe this if I didn't see it with my own eyes.
Roy Just Can't Get it Right
Since Roy Blunt will likely repeat this incredulous remark many times, I do hope he says it correctly next time. "Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy" can simply be rendered: "Medicare has never done anything to make people healthier." (I can't believe I just wrote such a stupid statement twice in a row; forgive me.)
Please take note, Roy, I can't keep this up. I have my hands full with Blaine Leutkemeyer and my grade school kids.