Your Medicare Costs

[longknife]

A couple of Drudge headlines well-worth checking out.

Doctor With Big Medicare Billings Is No Stranger to Scrutiny
By FRANCES ROBLESAPRIL 9, 2014 @ http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/10/b...billings-is-no-stranger-to-scrutiny.html?_r=0

This guy is an eye doctor who came from the Dominican Republic and gave Senator Mendez repeated trips on his private plane to meet “interesting women.” And he received $21 MILLION from Medicare!!!

Small Slice of Doctors Account for Big Chunk of Medicare Costs
Top 1% of Medical Providers Accounted for 14% of Billing, Federal Data Show @ Small Slice of Doctors Account for Big Chunk of Medicare Costs - WSJ.com

When that thing comes in the mail from your Medicare provider, do you read it or toss it into the trash? It's not a bill so why worry about it?

Well, I read mine just to see what the various procedures are costing the American taxpayer. I have no way of knowing what they would cost if paid for by cash. But, some of the costs appear to be ridiculous.

Wonder why? Ask your doctor and s/he will tell you it comes from the overhead needed to deal with the current paperwork and billing requirements.

Check it out for yourself.

 

[waltky]

Social Security Spending Hit Record for FY2015...

$944,143,000,000: Social Security Administration Spending Hit Record in FY2015; $6,345 For Every American With a Job
November 9, 2015 - Spending by the Social Security Administration - which includes payments for Social Security and disability benefits as well as Supplemental Security Income payments and the administrative costs for these programs--hit a record $944,143,000,000 in fiscal 2015, according to data published by the U.S. Treasury.

Even in constant 2015 dollars (with adjustments made using the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator), that was up $33,748,280,000 from the $910,394,720,000 the Social Security Administration spent in fiscal 2014. As of September, there were 59,737,817 beneficiaries getting Social Security or disability benefits, according to the SSA. At the same time, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 148,800,000 people who had either a full- or part-time job in the United States. That means there were only 2.49 people with jobs for each of the 59,737,817 Social Security and disability beneficiaries.

At the same time, there were only 121,839,000 people with full-time jobs in the United States in September, according to BLS. Those 121,839,000 full-time job holders equaled about 2.04 for each of the 59,737,817 people getting Social Security or disability benefits. The $944,143,000,000 spent by the Social Security Administration in fiscal 2015 equaled about $6,345 for each of the 148,800,000 persons in the country with a job as of September. It equaled about $7,749 for each of the 121,839,000 people with a full-time job.

The $944,143,000,000 that the Social Security Administration spent in fiscal 2015 was also $381,637,000,000 (or about 68 percent) more than the $562,506,000,000 that the Treasury says the government spent on the Department of Defense and military programs during the year. In Table 5 of the Monthly Treasury Statement for September, the Treasury itemized the various elements that led to the $944,143,000,000 in total spending by the Social Security Administration in fiscal 2015.

MORE

 

[Arianrhod]

^Boomers are retiring. There are a lot of them.

Congress has also frozen any CoL increase for SS recipients for 2016, which may bite them in the ass.

 

[longknife]

^Boomers are retiring. There are a lot of them.

Congress has also frozen any CoL increase for SS recipients for 2016, which may bite them in the ass.

I was NOT done by Congress! It was done by Obozo based upon his administration's reports on the economy. COLAs could have increased if our Dear Leader which them to.

 

[Arianrhod]

^Boomers are retiring. There are a lot of them.

Congress has also frozen any CoL increase for SS recipients for 2016, which may bite them in the ass.

I was NOT done by Congress! It was done by Obozo based upon his administration's reports on the economy. COLAs could have increased if our Dear Leader which them to.

We're talking about the Real World here, and in coherent English.