TY  - JOUR
AU  - Newhouse,Joseph P.
TI  - Medicare Policy in the 1990s
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 8531
PY  - 2001
Y2  - October 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8531
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w8531.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joseph P. Newhouse
Division of Health Policy  Research and Education
Harvard University
180 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA  02115-5899
Tel: 617/432-1325
Fax: 617/432-3503
E-Mail: newhouse@hcp.med.harvard.edu
AB  - I describe several changes to Medicare in the 1990s, their rationale, and their likely effects.  I focus principally on issues in the administered price systems Medicare uses to pay medical providers, especially those used for post-acute care providers, Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs), and physicians.  The changes to these systems in the 1990s, although directed at important problems, have introduced new and serious problems of their own.  For example, the post-acute care system now pays different amounts for the same service, depending on the site of care, and the HMO system is on a trajectory to pay substantially less than traditional Medicare in high rate areas and more in low rate areas, thereby unbalancing local medical markets.  I consider future directions for the program, including its long-term financing and a prescription drug benefit.
ER  -