Traditional Medicare
Traditional Medicare generally does not cover routine dental, vision, and hearing services.
Traditional Medicare avoids covering the expenses for the treatments related to eyes, teeth, and ears.
Now, Democrats in Congress are willing to fix this problem by providing additional funds to Medicare service providers.
As per reports, Congressional Democrats have proposed expanding the benefits covered by traditional Medicare.
They have proposed a bill of $3.5 trillion to add these treatments.
While the last major addition to Medicare benefits was the introduction of the Medicare prescription drug benefit in 2003, other smaller updates and benefits have been added since then.
We hear a major update regarding the healthcare industry from the committee. This move will surely help millions of adults whose health is covered by Medicare.
Since the treatments for vision, hearing, and dental are very expensive, adding them to the existing Medicare would be costly.
Expanding Medicare to include dental, vision, and hearing could potentially increase costs for beneficiaries, depending on how it is funded.
As a result, the participants must pay additional money for the premiums against their Medicare.
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The most recent data shows that the standard monthly premium for Medicare Part B in 2021 is $148.50, though this can vary based on income. After adding these additional benefits, the Plan B Premiums would surely go high.
It was just an announcement, as the Democrats didn’t mention the specific dates or other details regarding this new move in the Healthcare Industry.
A similar proposal to expand Medicare benefits was discussed in 2019, but specific costs and legislative details may vary.
Most Citizens face oral health issues. According to the data, over two-thirds of the funds will be utilized only for dental-related treatments.
Medicare does not typically cover routine dental, vision, and hearing treatments, but this is due to the program’s original statutory design, not solely because these services are expensive and common.
What Treatments Are Excluded from the Medicare?
Dental-related issues that arise from various health conditions and all the other dental treatments are not covered by Medicare.
Medicare will generally not pay for dental care related to gum disease unless it is part of a covered medically necessary procedure, such as reconstruction after injury or surgery.
In other conditions, Medicare will cover the repair of the tooth if it is removed to find the tumor. As mentioned above, over two-thirds of Medicare beneficiaries have undergone dental treatments.
The data shows that over 37 million Medicare users have received dental-related treatments.
From the data, over half of the beneficiaries have not visited the dental clinics in the past year.
From the same data, over 15% of users have reported that they do not have teeth in their mouths due to old age.
Most people don’t pay attention to their oral health, leading to unwanted dental and gum-related issues.
Moving on to hearing problems, over one-third of the beneficiaries between the ages of 65 and 74 have hearing loss.
Hearing aids are also expensive, just like modern dental treatments. On average, hearing aids would cost between $1,000 to $5,000.
In a recent executive order, the present President of the United States, Mr. Joe Biden, urged the Drug Counters to make hearing aids available.
This will eventually reduce the cost of hearing aids and make them easily available for the needy.
Now, making hearing aids available in Medicare would help millions of adults with Medicare facilities. They will be able to receive hearing aids and can improve their quality of life.
Comparison Between Traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage
The Medicare Advantage plans offered by Medicare Insurance providers include the treatments for dental, hearing, and vision problems with Plan C Premium.
The Plan C Premiums put an extra burden on the insurers. However, these Medicare Insurance plans cover all the expenses for costly treatments.
Medicare Advantage Plans have covered over 42% of the insurers by providing much-needed treatments and their expenses.
These plans are quite popular among adults with good monthly incomes or those who can afford extra premiums.
Who will Pay
Democrats are yet to decide how the extra money for the additional benefits will be covered.
These additional benefits can only be added to Medicare by raising the premiums.
If they do so, then how much the premium will be increased is still a matter of discussion.
About 75% of Medicare Part B costs are financed through general revenues, with the remaining covered by premiums paid by beneficiaries. Funding for any expansion in Medicare benefits would likely involve general federal revenues or increased premiums, not specifically from taxpayers already enrolled in Medicare Part B.
Although the official announcement has yet to be made, according to reports, they plan to do the same.
Take Away
We all know the importance of covering dental, hearing, and vision in the list of existing Medicare benefits.
These additional benefits will improve the quality of life of elderly people, as these problems arise in the 65- —and 74-year-old groups.
The Democrats of Congress aim to strengthen senior healthcare with this new move.
Only time will tell us more about the benefits explained in this article. We expect to hear more from the officials very soon.
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