Appended to Karen Davis’ oral testimony is a set of 24 insightful exhibits

Week 4 Discussion

Appended to Karen Davis’ oral testimony is a set of 24 insightful exhibits that are loaded with Medicare information. For this module’s discussion, please interpret, assess, cite, and debate the Medicare reform implications of the facts and figures from this set of 24 exhibits

 

Orientation to “The Future of Medicare: Converting to Premium Support or Continuing as a Guaranteed Benefit Program”

Also included in your Module 4 reading is a transcript of Karen Davis’ October 2012 testimony to the House of Representatives Democratic Steering and Policy Committee Forum on Saving Medicare. At the time of this testimony, Dr. Davis was President of the Commonwealth Fund.

 

In her testimony, Dr. Davis assesses two approaches to sustaining and improving the quality, efficiency, financial health, and stability of Medicare: premium support and “continuing Medicare as an essential benefit by building on the Affordable Care Act” (Davis, 2012, p. 4). Dr. Davis advocates an approach of “continuing guaranteed benefits and rewarding hospitals and physicians for providing high-quality care in an efficient manner (which) has the potential to achieve needed budgetary savings while reducing, not increasing, financial risk to beneficiaries” (Davis, 2012, pp. 2-3). This approach “retains and builds on the innovations in the Affordable Care Act” (Davis, 2012, p. 4).

 

Read: Davis transcript

 

 

Davis, K. (2012). The future of medicare: Converting to premium support or continuing as a guaranteed benefit program. Retrieved from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Testimony/2012/Oct/

Davis_HouseDems_Medicare_testimony_10022012_FINAL.pdf