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It costs seniors in Minnesota as much as three times more for their health care than it does for seniors in some other parts of the country. That is the conclusion of research done by the Medicare Justice Coalition that compared the costs of receiving health care in Hennepin County, Dade County, Florida; and Los Angeles, California.
For a person in Minneapolis who is in fair health, is about 68, and who is enrolled in a Medicare HMO (i.e. U-Care Minnesota), the average monthly cost for health care is $634 a month. For that same person living in Miami the average cost is $335 (i.e. WellCare Choice) and in Los Angeles $214 (i.e. Secure Horizons). Medical expenses in all three cases include the persons Medicare premium ($78 a month) as well as his or her health plan premium ($94 in MN and nothing in the other two cities), hearing aids, doctor visits, hospital stays, eyeglasses, prescription drugs, dental care and transportation. This new comparative information is now provided the government’s own Medicare website (www.medciare.gov). Howard Gochberg, co-chair of the Medicare Justice Coalition said that this shows that “the Medicare system continues to reward high cost, inefficient health care and while at the same time it punishes consumers, and providers that deliver or receive relatively lower cost, good quality health care. The Medicare Modernization Act has done nothing to correct the inequities in the Medicare payment system that creates Medicare “haves” and “have-nots”.” While an average monthly Medicare payment to a Medicare Advantage Plan in Hennepin County is $654 in 2005, some counties in other states receive over $1,500. That is unfair! In high reimbursed areas like Miami, Boston, Los Angeles and New York, Medicare Advantage health plans are over paid resulting in beneficiaries having to pay little or nothing for health plan coverage, prescription drugs, doctors and hospital visits, eye glasses, even medical transportation. While in Minnesota and the upper Midwest where health plans are underpaid we have less options and some of the highest out of pocket costs for health care in the country. A report released in February 2005 by the National Institute on Health Policy headed up by former Senator David Durenberger said that the new Medicare Modernization Act, which will take effect next January, will not solve the problem. The new Act is supposed to use the power of competition between health and prescription drug plans to lower costs and improve consumer choice. This is being accomplished by dividing the country into 26 Medicare health plan payment regions. Minnesota and Iowa have been assigned to be part of the largest geographic region in the country, encompassing seven Upper Midwestern states. We will also be unique in that 91% of the counties in our region receive the lowest possible Medicare reimbursement. That said, the report concludes “it would be surprising if many national plans chose to participate in our region and any benefits provided are apt to be the most meager in the country. …The MMA does not address the fundamental payment inequity for the Upper Midwest while simultaneously eroding the integrity of existing program options.” The NIHP report concludes also that the MMA in continuing “geographic payment and benefit inequities means that Upper Midwest seniors are disadvantaged when compared to other sectors of the country. Moreover, payment inequities continue the tradition of wealth transfer from Upper Midwest taxpayers to more favorably reimbursed regions.” To Read the National on health Policy Report Click here.
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Issues and Activism 
