Medicare Quotations | Page 3

The most important thing is that Medicare Part D was implemented, and this boost for seniors should make earnings quite buoyant. We think investors will be very pleased with the numbers.

Once we get our Medicare license, we'll open one wing.

And the provision included to offset the cost of these programs recognizes that taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for certain lifestyle prescription drugs through Medicare and Medicaid.

Arbitrary caps on Medicare will mean that providers or beneficiaries will have to make up the difference through lower payment rates or higher cost sharing.

Al Gore is running more than $60 million in attack ads, making his campaign the most negative in history. When it comes to experience, America can't afford Al Gore's experience of raising taxes, increasing the size of government, opposing bipartisan Medicare and Social Security reform, and not making education a priority.

The Missourians I hear from just don't buy the idea that the only way to tackle the national debt is to drastically alter Medicare and Social Security.

This is an essential dose of protection for roughly 270,000 elderly and disabled people in Massachusetts who may experience a loss in drug coverage when they are switched overnight to the Medicare prescription drug program on January 1.

This is the end of Medicare as we know it. It's going to open up litigation across the country in the other nine provinces as taxpayers there press for the same right, which is the right to seek and buy insurance to cover private health care.

This forecast unrealistically assumes that discretionary spending will grow only with inflation, that all expiring tax breaks will expire on schedule -- they almost never do -- and that Congress will not enact the prescription drug benefit for Medicare that a House-Senate conference is now debating.

This is a big deal. It is the first time in 40 years since Medicare has been around that there is some help in paying for prescriptions. It's a brand new program, and there are a lot of questions, and some misconceptions we need to clear up.

They use one set of books to give away money to special interests and another set of books to pretend that it's not going to do serious damage to Medicare and Social Security,

Ambulance contractors are told up front that Medicare does not guarantee ambulance service. I review the patient's medical history prior to making my decision,

American industry spends a lot of time on cost accounting, and they do so because it gives them so much more control. But the health system rewards inefficiency. It's not a competitive system where the supplier names the price -- as a doctor, you can't determine the price, Medicare quotes it for you.... When the one saying it is as big a gorilla as Medicare, you say, 'I'll take it.'

They operated under our Medicare number. We leased the space to them, but they did not have a Medicare-provider arrangement.

They don't want to leave traditional Medicare and go into new private sector programs.

This Medicare Part D plan is a fiasco. It's much worse than people imagined. The problems are not simply problems of immediate implementation, but conception.

There needs to be Medicare reform with the prescription drug benefit. And we will ask Congress, he will ask Congress to take a very hard look at that very early.

They're in crisis mode. They were paying cash before and then want Medicare to pay for it. It's been a real shock, to say the least.

They have squandered the surpluses ... the public's trust in corporate accountability and in the markets, and the opportunities to use the surpluses to protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security and homeland defense,

There's a massive build-up of future Social Security and Medicare spending that will explode, and this makes the problem much worse.

As we see the cost-containment methods being used by the private sector being now applied now to this Medicare business, I think those plans will extract higher and higher discounts from the industry,

Allowing Medicare buy-in for caregivers of Medicare beneficiaries, or tax credits for caregivers' medical expenses, could ease their financial burden.

It is our intention, of course, to try to do all we can to improve that bill, ... We want to ensure that seniors have access to these drug benefits through Medicare itself. We want to make sure they know what it's going to cost. We want to make sure they know what they can count on with regard to the benefits themselves.

It's a difficult environment and it only gets harder because from year to year, the Medicare dollars we are paid are adjusted with the federal budget. It's hard to grow a business when you don't know what you're going to get paid from year to year.

It's kind of Medicare goes old school. This is really an effort to find better ways to support the patient when they are away from the physician through telephone inquiries, visiting nurses and various support systems.

Its remarkable that better management of the Medicare program has achieved the same level of savings in just one year as the Senate did in a five-year budget bill passed just last week,

Everybody on Medicare needs to sit down and say, 'What does this mean to me?' You can't just blow it off.

The better informed an organization is, the better it will be able to spell out strategic options ahead of time and respond more quickly to inevitable changes in the market. Organizations which begin now to evaluate how conducive their operations are to Part D will find themselves best prepared to handle various new target groups and a reinvigorated Medicare marketing message.

The average costs of an active employee is $130,000 a year, and the average cost for a retiree before Medicare is about $50,000. The savings are enormous.

It's common sense to be for middle-class tax cuts and tax cuts on small businesses, to be for not allowing Medicare to be turned into voucher care.

It's a massive, massive, massive program. All Americans eligible for Medicare will qualify. I think it's a great day for America's seniors.

It seems as though there are Members in this body who want to filibuster just about everything we try to do, whether it is stopping judicial nominations, the Energy bill, or this Medicare bill.

It simply postpones, once again, the day of reckoning for Medicare and increases the burden this program will place on our children and grandchildren,

It's important to know that a lot of people will never reach the $2,250 amount. None of this applies to the Medicare beneficiaries who qualify for extra help because they will have no premiums, no deductibles, and no gaps in coverage.

I've heard from physicians just out and about that they have a real reluctance to deal with the whole Medicare program unless it's fixed.

It's time for people with Medicare and those who care about them to start thinking about making Medicare decisions. And we will help them.

This is information that seniors need to have and understand, ... The Medicare prescription bill was a contentious one in Congress. The average person on Medicare will see a savings of 50 percent in prescription drug costs with this program.

The new Medicare prescription drug benefit reflects the growing trend toward preventing illnesses and better managing the health of seniors, ... It will enable people to save money and live healthier lives.

The new Medicare drug benefit is 10 times more complicated than the Medicare drug discount card, ... and 10 times more important.

The labor levels, Medicare climate, malpractice insurance, general weather climate ? there's no simple reason why these people are leaving Michigan.

Their plan leaves nothing for Medicare -- not one penny. It explodes in costs just as the Baby Boomers start to retire and Medicare and Social Security come under pressure. It fails to take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pay down our debt, to prepare for this coming demographic tidal wave,

The issues of Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security -- what are we doing to convince the American people that we're prepared to deal with those tough issues?

The Congressional Budget Office tells us by 2052, Social Security could meet only 78 percent of its obligations. Medicare is in even worse shape. The shortfall in Medicare is eight times the deficit in Social Security. But the president has no plan to deal with that. The truth is, we need to confront all these challenges sooner rather than later.

The cost of his (Bradley's) proposal almost forces that kind of tax increase if we are going to make the investment also to preserve Medicare and Social Security.

I'm glad I took the time to join a prescription drug plan. Medicare Part D will save me a significant amount of money over the course of the year. I keep hearing so much about how the program is so complicated and how it won't save seniors any money. That's just not true. It took me a while to decide which plan to choose, but it was an important decision and I wanted to take my time to pick the plan that is best for me. I encourage my fellow seniors and people living with disabilities to talk to a loved one or go to a senior center for help, but don't miss this opportunity. It works for me and it will work for you.

I hope this means Mr. Reich will educate Senator Bradley's team on Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security -- all programs that Bradley's agenda threatens to dismantle, imperil or change.

In January alone, 1.5 million eligible Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in the new drug benefit. The rate of enrollment is encouraging because we know people are getting past some of the initial enrollment challenges and are truly receiving the benefits that they need and deserve. As we move forward, we anticipate more people hearing about the benefits from their friends and loved ones, and when that happens we expect to see a great surge in enrollment.

If Medicare could negotiate directly with drug companies it could save the federal and state governments hundred of billions of dollars and cut insurance premiums.

Individuals are more and more aware that Social Security is going to have problems, that Medicare is going to have problems,

If the president and the White House spent half as much time worrying about the runaway deficit and the broken Medicare system as they do about Hillary Clinton, the country would be in much better shape.

I opposed Clinton's budget deal in 1997 because he brought in $115 billion cut in Medicare that created greater pressure for providers not to participate.

If you turn down Medicare Part D now and change your mind later, you'll pay a higher premium, a penalty they call it.

In the 1960s, the original Medicare benefit was marked by challenges and difficulties, just as the new drug benefit is today.

In some cases, Medicare has incomplete or inaccurate data.

Instead of following through on their promise to concentrate on jobs, Republicans have attacked seniors, working families, women, and the most vulnerable among us. They have pursued an extreme agenda that would end Medicare as we know it and cut Social Security benefits in order to continue giving tax breaks to Big Oil and millionaires.

Insurance companies have comparison charts for plans within their company. It's not as good as having the one web site, but it is another option for people who want to start researching. We continue to check the Medicare site every day.

I have to tell you as a doctor, 25 years of practice, not as a politician using talking points, as somebody who has taken care of Medicare patients, we can make it a lot better.

In 2005, we also faced challenges in both our segments. Results in our Senior Segment were impacted by a higher-than-anticipated Medicare supplement loss ratio. Our Medical Segment was affected by increased severity of larger dollar claims. In 2006, we continue to actively address these issues as we remain focused on our ongoing business strategy of growth in our Senior Segment and stability in our Medical Segment.

I guess we had talked about his background and questioned him about Medicare. He said he had no problems with Medicare in the past.

Clearly the focus is Medicare, including what their outlook is going to be for enrollment in 2006. The driver in the fourth quarter was principally what they spent getting ready for the Medicare opportunity in 2006.

CMS has significant concerns about the GAO's finding. These individuals will get effective, comprehensive prescription-drug coverage when the new Medicare prescription-drug benefit begins.

But, if you don't like your current Rx coverage or don't have any coverage to begin with, you'll now have the choice to add this new affordable option to your current Medicare plan.

By and large, Medicaid will stop paying for prescriptions and the Medicare plan will take over.

By freezing payments at 2005 rates, the House has stopped a planned 4.4 percent payment reduction that would force physicians to limit the number of new Medicare patients they take into their practice.

He said ... Medicare was the worst federal program ever, ... Howard, you were agreeing with the very plan that Newt Gingrich wanted to pass, which was a $270 billion cut in Medicare.

What Donald Trump is proposing with these massive tax cuts will result in a $20 trillion additional national debt. That will have dire consequences for Social Security and Medicare.

I will seek to reverse the shift of benefits from Medicaid to Medicare and hold harmless our seniors and disabled.

If every American automatically has health coverage, the age at which Medicare kicks in becomes a less fraught issue. We could gradually raise the age of Medicare eligibility a bit, according to income, and save money.

I am pleased that Secretary Thompson has acknowledged the growing scandal over the Medicare drug bill and has pledged an independent inquiry into the misconduct,

If Congress will pass a plan that gives real, voluntary Medicare prescription drug coverage ... then I will sign a marriage penalty relief law,

Gov. Bush wants to strengthen Medicare by offering choice in the form of more private sector alternatives for the elderly.

For patients who have their Medicare prescription drug card from the insurance plan that they have signed up with or that they were assigned to, we are processing their prescriptions and filling them and they are seeing the benefit of the program.

On the Medicare side, they limited their cuts to far in the future, and to providers.

The major concern is that people are going to unwittingly wind up in Medicare managed care and may well lose their right to see their physicians.

All Medicare drug plans have to cover all medically necessary treatments.

The House-passed FY2012 Budget Resolution does two very important things: it ensures that seniors 55 and older will continue to receive the same Medicare benefits they received in 2010, and it ensures Medicare for individuals under age 55 by saving Medicare from insolvency and providing, for the first time, a real choice for the future.

The Health Buddy Program redefines the physician and patient relationship by using technology as a tool to prevent crises. Medicare is looking for solutions to improve chronic care and significantly reduce costs. Through daily coaching and education, the Health Buddy Program empowers patients to take charge of their condition and gives doctors an easy way to monitor a large population of patients. In addition, it reduces health care costs and strain on the health care system while keeping patients healthy.

You will get a quicker answer if you call your plan directly to check your enrollment and to resolve issues with your premium payments. Medicare and Social Security are working together to resolve this issue.

The goal is working on preserving and protecting the nursing home's license so the new owner can come in and implement his changes and lead to the reinstatement of Medicaid and Medicare funds.

The goal of My Medicare Matters(TM) is simple. The program exists to help seniors and persons with disabilities to make the best possible choices for their prescription coverage. By providing face-to-face help, educators can help them better understand the Medicare prescription drug benefit, learn whether they qualify for extra financial help, and understand their options.

The company delivers essential products and services, ... And this is one that should benefit from the new Medicare legislation that is being proposed. You're going to see another $15 or $20 billion spent on drugs and CVS, of course, as a drug store chain, would benefit significantly from that.

The Medicare prescription drug benefit advancing through Congress will cost much more, and do less good, than many legislators realize,

The Medicare moment of truth is drawing near. The hype is already fading as more and more seniors experience the pain of the donut hole and incomplete coverage -- a problem that will only get worse between now and the end of the year.

The Medicare drug program undermines his credibility on health care. But that doesn't mean he can't put forward some positive reforms.

The Medicare drug benefit is a potentially important benefit for many of our most vulnerable Americans, particularly patients with low incomes, who are in poor health. It will be important to monitor whether low-income nursing home residents qualify for premium and cost-sharing subsidies.

The Medicare aggregate data from the ICD Registry will be made available to the public to better inform patients and physicians on the most appropriate ICD therapy. Better evidence means better decisions by doctors and patients,

The media has concentrated on the confusion over the various plan options. But we have found that people who attend these outreach events, or call the Medicare number or visit the Web site, obtain the help they need to unravel the mystery.

Americans count on the guaranteed benefits they paid for under Medicare.

The Ryan budget gets rid of Medicare in 10 years and turns it into a voucher program,

major breakthrough in our effort to give senior citizens the prescription drug coverage under Medicare they need and deserve.

If they are so efficient, why do they need a handout? ... Talk about a fair playing field between the Medicare and the private sector. That's hogwash, that's hogwash.

For years, under the Medicare system, it was a universal system in the sense that people would pay in all across this nation. Now that concept is being challenged and, I believe, undermined.

Future additional tax breaks for the wealthy do not deserve a higher priority than strengthening education or covering prescription drugs under Medicare or protecting Social Security or meeting other urgent national priorities,

Hillary Clinton has pledged amnesty in her first 100 days, and her plan will provide Obamacare, Social Security, and Medicare for illegal immigrants, breaking the federal budget.

Let's protect our social security and Medicare.

We can talk about Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security. We can talk about school, we can talk about everything. Defense is number one or we don't have a country.

The news on the Republican Medicare bill gets better and better for drug company profits and HMOs, and worse and worse for seniors and the Medicare program,

Medicare will usher in federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have know it in this country.