Annotated Bibliography- Modification to Medicare Policies  

Butler, S. M. (2020, July). Medicare Advantage for all, perhaps? In JAMA Health Forum (Vol. 1, No. 7, pp. e200967-e200967). American Medical Association.

Butler (2020) notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the questioning of the US health system. The has led to the suggestion that Medicare should become the chassis of the whole health care system. However, there have been concerns about Medicare for all. First is the increase in federal expenditure. Second is that even though the Medicare benefit package is comprehensive, traditional Medicare comprise of significant out of pocket-costs for all. There is also the concept of disruption, especially for the individuals with other health coverages since that means having multiple systems. This research is important in understanding modifications to Medicare. It is also relevant and up to date.

Carvalho, N., Petrie, D., Chen, L., Salomon, J. A., & Clarke, P. (2019). The impact of Medicare part D on income-related inequality in pharmaceutical expenditure. International journal for equity in health, 18(1), 1-11.

Carvalho et al. (2019) details the impact of Medicare Part D. The purpose of Medicare prescription drug benefit plan was to allow the beneficiaries have access to subsidized outpatient and subscription drug coverage which was offered through stand-alone prescription drug plans. The implementation of Medicare Part D was resulted in an increase in public drug expenditure, compared to the out-of-pocket and private spending. Public-drug expenditures only favoured the poor. Particularly, the comprehension of income-related inequality measures is crucial in describing how they are driving factors in the unequal distribution of health and health access. Therefore, this research is important in understanding some of the introductions in Medicare program and how such modifications have had an effect on the overall US health system.

Garrett, B., Banthin, J., Gangopadhyaya, A., Buettgens, M., Shartzer, A., Holahan, J., & Arnos, D. (2020). The Effects of Medicare Buy-In Policies for Older Adults on Health Insurance Coverage and Health Care Spending.

According to Garret et al. (2020), the introduction of Medicare buy-in program allows qualifying people to purchase Medicare-like health insurance plan. The program required individuals aged 50 and 64 to enroll, which means that the only individuals above 50 would be beneficiaries. The research is important in understanding the effect of the buy-in program as well as the effect of modernizing the Medicare benefit. This research article is also up to date.

Huffman, K. F., & Upchurch, G. (2018). The health of older Americans: a primer on Medicare and a local perspective. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(1), 25-32.

Huffman and Upchurch (2018) detail the overview of Medicare and the insurance choices for Medicare beneficiaries. The authors also provide insights on the effect of Medicare on income and race. Thus, it is important to understand how Medicare works so as to be able to get the maximum benefits out of it. The research is important in the understanding of how Medicare has changed over the years. The research resource is also updated.

 Hussey, P. S., Liu, J. L., & White, C. (2017). The Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act: effects on Medicare payment policy and spending. Health Affairs, 36(4), 697-705.

Hussey et al. (2017) notes that the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization ACT, which was enacted in 2015, resulted in the repealing of the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula. It also led to the expansion of the role of value-based payment in Medicare. Therefore, the modification to Medicare led to an increase in the utilization of payment models that were associated to health care quality. Health care providers were also awarded for decreasing spending growth. This research is important in understanding how MACRA impacts the overall health care system.

Lissenden, B., & Yao, N. A. (2017). Affordable Care Act changes to Medicare led to increased diagnoses of early-stage colorectal cancer among seniors. Health Affairs, 36(1), 101-107.

Lissenden and Yao (2017) note ACA changes to Medicare. ACA resulted in increasing the affordability as well as the accessibility of the preventive services in the US. ACA necessitated health insurers to increase the coverage of diseases such as breast cancer and colorectal cancer screening tests without any involvement in patient cost sharing. This, therefore, led to an increase in the early detection of the two types of cancers. This research is important in detailed how modifications to Medicare have had an impact in the coverage of health care in the US. Manchikanti, L., Singh, V., Benyamin, R. M., Kaye, A. D., Pampati, V., & Hirsch, J. A. (2018). Reframing Medicare physician payment policy for 2019: a look at proposed policy. Pain Physician, 21(5), 415-432.

According to Manchikanti et al. (2018), CMS released a proposed change to Medicare. There was the introduction of two rules, first being Medicare physician fee schedule and another the quality payment program. CMS also provided codes for the increase in the reimbursement services. This research is important in defining the different changes in the healthcare regulations such as the proposed fees schedule and the role in interventional pain management.

Podulka, J., & Blum, J. (2020). Regulatory Changes to Medicare in Response to COVID-19.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating effects on the health care systems. Podulka and Blum (2020) note that the COVID-19 pandemic led to waiving of the existing Medicare regulations. The Congress provided unprecedented flexibility to aid the health care system to public health emergencies. The research is important in the analysis of the changes in COVID-19-related regulations. Therefore, the research is important in understanding changes in Medicare, with response COVID-19 pandemic.