The 'Hard To Change' Legacy Of Medicare Payments

The budget President Obama will send to Congress Wednesday is expected to include some and other health programs.

And if the word around Washington is correct, it may also include a proposal aimed at winning some bipartisan backing — by .

But there have been previous efforts to streamline Medicare's antiquated system of deductibles and copayments. And none, so far, has been successful.

Tom Miller, a resident fellow at the conservative , says having separate deductibles and coinsurance schemes for Medicare's parts A and B is an anachronism that dates back to the 1960s, when .

"That's been a legacy which has been very hard to change," he says, "because it requires an act of Congress, which requires agreement ... which tends not to be the case."

Read the full story here: http://n.pr/17onySZ

Source: NPR