Most Americans oppose health care reform, and freelancers who will be forced to carry health insurance whether or not they can afford it like it even less. Much of the fury over of the health care debate is fueled by uncertainty and a lack of information about what the new bill actually contains. Employers and people who have health care plans have good reason to oppose the bill, but the new plan will not affect senior citizens currently on Medicare.
The level of coverage that a senior citizen currently receives under Medicare will not change, nor will the plans offered by the Federal Government. The only thing that might change is the number of doctors that will accept patients with Medicare as the only coverage.
Health care providers have a hard time making money from patients with Medicare and an anonymous source who worked in a nursing home, that the current Medicare system had to be nickeled and dimed and the paperwork had to be filled out very carefully to ensure that the facility he worked for made any profits of Medicare patients.
Senior citizens will keep the same level of coverage, but they may find fewer doctors that will accept Medicare, and may find that the paperwork that they personally need to fill out will increase. Because these trends are already in place for the most part, most senior citizens will not see any difference at all if their health care reform passes.
People over the age of 65 who fall between certain income levels may find the coverage they receive from their Medicare plan actually increases and they may become eligible for Medicare Part D. Cracking down on fraud may lower the costs that the government pays, but it does not address the core problem of the declining reimbursement amount that the government-sponsored gives for each services.
There is no need to worry about sweeping changes to the health care if you are over 65, although the proposed plan will not stop the decrease in the number of doctors that accept the various types of Medicare plans. Because the bill does not have the support it needs in both houses, it is unlikely that it will pass at all. Worrying about the changes to a health plan proposed by a bill that is unlikely to pass is premature, even if the people will not know what is in it until after it passes or gets denied.