S. O. S. – SPEAKING OF SENIORS: MEDICARE PRICING HURTS SENIORS
By Woodrow Wilcox
On November 15, 2017, a client visited my office both to apologize and to help me make a point to readers. He apologized for being a bit “gruff” with me on his first visit a few weeks earlier.
At that time, he was upset that he got a bill for over $150 for a few soft rubber CPAC masks. He had forgotten that he had bought a Medicare supplement policy that did not cover the $183 Medicare Part B annual deductible.
I told him that I was surprised that the CPAC masks cost so much because I used to work in a plastics and rubber molding factory. He described the mask to me. I told him I’d like to see one of the masks, after he used it and cleaned it. He delivered the mask in a plastic bag on this visit.
I was amazed at the price of the small item. The medical supplies provider billed Medicare for $189.42 per clear rubber mask. Medicare approved a reduced charge of $34.60 per mask. That charge might be justified depending on how much paperwork the medical supplier had to do to sell the medical supply to a patient through the Medicare system.
Here is my point. The Medicare system creates enormous additional costs to taxpayers, senior citizens, and those involved in providing medical care or supplies to seniors. My nearly fifteen years of helping seniors fight mistakes and fraud in the Medicare system has convinced me that the Medicare system was not designed to help seniors with medical care costs. Instead, it was designed to make billions of dollars every year for federal government employees and federal government contractors. It does that job very well. The special interests of the government employees and government contractors keep health care costs for everyone higher than necessary.
Note: Woodrow Wilcox is the senior medical bill case worker of Senior Care Insurance Services in Merrillville, Indiana. He has saved clients of that agency over one million dollars by fighting mistakes and fraud in the Medicare system. He wrote the book SOLVING MEDICARE PROBLEM$ (www.SolvingMedicareProblems.com) and posts articles at www.WoodrowWilcox.com.
 Woodrow Wilcox
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Written on November 15, 2017 by Woodrow Wilcox
Wilcox News Services, P. O. Box 744, Griffith, IN 46319