Solving the Medicare Crisis

You are chief of staff to your brother-in-law, Representative Howard Hughes, who was recently elected to fill out a term in Congress.

He has been asked to participate in a panel discussion on the Medicare funding crisis. You have been asked to prepare a paper for him. The panel is asked to respond to a proposal for reducing Medicare expenditures by adding Part X to the current Part A – Hospital coverage, Part B – Outpatient coverage, Part C – Managed care, and Part D – Prescription drug coverage. What would Medicare Part X contain?

Key Questions

The following key questions must be addressed in the paper.

• Define the coverage element(s) for the proposed Medicare Part X.
• Provide detailed explanations of costs and benefits and related economic principles to support the proposed Medicare Part X.
• Identify how the proposed Medicare Part X will be funded.
• Include a section entitled "Contingency Planning" on how your Medicare Part X recommendation(s) would or would not change if a new federal law was passed that required all individuals over age 65 to purchase long-term care insurance for assisted-living and nursing home (i.e., skilled nursing facility) services. Be sure to include rationale and justification.

Your congressperson wants to appear intelligent. Do not be afraid to refer to economic theory or theories of distributive justice.

Details

• Prepare a written response to questions following the Case Study requirements and expectations.
• In general, the length of this case study should be no fewer than three pages (not including a cover or reference page), double spaced.

TO REMEMBER:

The memo will be properly subdivided into the above required headings and subheadings (bold and in caps). – Problem Identification – Situation Analysis – Solution Remember, the goal is not to find the solution but rather to examine the case and practice analyzing and solving real-world problems from a healthcare management perspective.