My girlfriend is involved with Medicare billing and she has daily horror stories. The levels of approval and denial of claims is mind numbing. The health care reforms are not streamlining the process, rather the government keeps rewriting the rules. It makes the tinkering with the tax code by the Congress and the IRS look like child's play.
The only effects of the health care reform bill on Medicare are:
Effective September 23, 2010
Individuals affected by the Medicare Part D coverage gap will receive a $250 rebate, and 50% of the gap will be eliminated in 2011.[58] The gap will be eliminated by 2020.
Medicare is expanded to small, rural hospitals and facilities.
Medicare patients with chronic illnesses must be monitored/evaluated on a 3 month basis for coverage of the medications for treatment of such illnesses.
Effective by January 1, 2014
Expand Medicaid eligibility; all individuals with income up to 133% of the poverty line qualify for coverage, including adults without dependent children.
Pay for new spending, in part, through spending and coverage cuts in Medicare Advantage, slowing the growth of Medicare provider payments (in part through the creation of a new Independent Payment Advisory Board), reducing Medicare and Medicaid drug reimbursement rate, cutting other Medicare and Medicaid spending.
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From this list, it appears that belt-tightening of Medicare isn't scheduled to take place until January 1, 2014. So I'm not sure why anyone would think that the nightmare stories being reported in this thread about Medicare are due to healthcare reform.
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