More than 5,300 elderly or disabled Mainers have saved more than $4 million in drug costs during the first half of this year as the federal government closes a Medicare coverage gap, dubbed the “donut hole,” the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services said this week. Since it was implemented in 2006, Medicare’s drug plan has […]
Medicare
Posted inLewiston-Auburn
More money, less money: the effects of not expanding MaineCare
The head of the Portland Community Health Center and her chief financial officer sat down last week to figure out which bills they could pay. They don’t have the money to pay all of them. More than half of their patients are uninsured, up from about 30 percent a few years ago. The health center […]
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Posted inBusiness, sj-web
Maine Medicare expenditures below national average
Maine hospitals are touting new data released by the federal government showing the state delivers health care to seniors more cost effectively than most of its counterparts. A Maine health care cost and quality organization, however, urged examining the numbers from a global perspective. On Monday, Medicare released a trove of data aimed at making […]
Posted inLetters
In rebuttal, G. D’Augustine: Headline misleading
The lead article in the Sun Journal April 10, “Some Maine doctors paid millions by Medicare in ’12,” represents an embarrassment to serious journalists. While technically true, the initial thrust of the article suggests a completely false premise: that some Maine doctors are taking home millions of dollars in Medicare payments. It’s not until the […]
Posted inLewiston-Auburn, Maine
Medicare releases doctor pay, procedures for 2012
LEWISTON — A local doctor billed Medicare for more than $2.3 million in 2012 for work that, at first look, appeared to include giving 110,000 shots. Rheumatologist Robert Sylvester was the highest Medicare-paid doctor in Maine that year, according to data released Wednesday that detail payments made to more than 880,000 practitioners across the country. […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
Medicare releases list of provider payments
Data: List of Maine health care providers WASHINGTON — Medicare paid a tiny group of doctors $3 million or more apiece in 2012. One got nearly $21 million. Those are among the findings of an Associated Press analysis of physician data released Wednesday by the Obama administration, part of a move to open the books […]
Posted inLetters
E. Field: A fair chance at a decent life
Some politicians say this country is divided into “takers” and “makers.” Americans on Social Security and Medicare are not takers. They have paid into those programs. Poor people may not pay income taxes, but they pay state and local taxes. Big businesses are huge takers. According to Americans for Tax Fairness, companies such as Google […]
Posted inFranklin, The Franklin Journal
Medicare benefits could be affected by changing counties
LIVERMORE FALLS — If Livermore Falls voters OK a move from Androscoggin County to Franklin County in the Nov. 5 referendum, the Medicare benefits for some residents could be affected. “I want to make sure the property taxes address my cost in health insurance,” said resident Ron Chadwick. He has heard from other people who […]
Posted inMaine, sj-web
Maine nurses say Obamacare doesn’t go far enough, argue for universal coverage
PORTLAND — A Maine nurses group on Monday said President Barack Obama’s signature healthcare law, which is criticized by conservatives as overreaching, doesn’t go far enough toward universal health coverage. The Maine State Nurses Association held Monday afternoon health screenings and an evening “town hall” event at the First Parish Church on Congress Street in […]
Posted inLetters
J. Myrand: Leave Social Security alone
Historically, Democratic leaders have created and defended Social Security and Medicare. In Maine today, 94 percent of senior citizens are receiving Social Security benefits and 99 percent of people over 65 are on Medicare. People have paid into both those programs. They have earned those benefits. There has been a push by some Republicans to […]