Health care financing medicare program

Medicare is a federal health care program, and its recipients include people over the age of 65, the disabled, and those with end-stage renal disease. Medicare is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration. The Medicare program consists of two parts (parts A and B), but is funded by four different sources (1) general tax revenues, (2) beneficiaries premiums, (3) mandatory contributions from employers and employees, and (4) deducf-ibles and copayments paid by patients. ... 

The primary responsibilities of CMS, formerly known as Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA), include administration of Medicare and Medicaid programs. Since 1965, Medicaid has provided health coverage for low-income persons, while Medicare has provided for the elderly and disabled. Medicaid currently provides coverage for more than 34 million people, including nearly 18 million children. Medicare currently provides coverage for more than 39 million elderly and disabled Amer-... 

Medicare is the health insurance program for people 65 years of age or older, certain younger individuals with disabilities, and citizens with End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent kidney failure with dialysis or a transplant, sometimes called ESRD). This program is administered by the Department of Health and Human Services through the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) of the United States federal government. 

Both pharmacists and pharmacies use Health Care Finance Administration (HCFA) Form 855, Provider/ Supplier Enrollment Application, to request a provider number. This form may be obtained from medicare part B carriers or provided by the previously mentioned training programs. This is a cursory review of medicare policies. Training programs will provide additional details, or contact your local medicare part B carrier, HCFA regional office, or other pharmacy reimbursement publications. 

By law, Medicare does not cover any drugs administered outside of the hospital or a physician s office, and the program does not pay for clinical research (487). Furthermore, to be covered by Medicare, drugs must be reasonable and necessary, a criterion that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) has interpreted. .. to exclude. .. those medical and health care services that are not demonstrated to be safe and effective by clinical evidence (487). HCFA has taken this to mean that experimental and investigational drugs are not covered. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administration, Health Care Financing Program Statistics Medicare and Medicaid Data Book, 1990, HCFA Publication No. 03314 (Washington, DC U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991). 

The federal agency responsible for the Medicaid program is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS, formerly known as the Health Care Financing Administration or HCFA), which is part of the Department of Health and Hiunan Services. A state may receive between 50 and 77% of the cost of providing Medicaid care from the federal government depending on the state s per capita income. 

Medicare is an entitlement program and serves all eligible beneficiaries regardless of income or medical history Like Social Securify, Medicare is based on a system of social insurance. Medicare is composed of two programs. Medicare Part A covers inpatient care in hospitals and skilled nursing facilities. It also covers hospice care and some home health care. Part A is financed by a 1.45% payroll fax paid by bofh employees and employers (2.9% for self-employed persons). Currenf employers and employees pay for the health care of current Medicare beneficiaries, wifh the expectation that when they reach age 65 they will receive the same benefits. In the U.S., when people turn 65 years of age, they are automatically eligible for Medicare s Parf A, and they do not have to pay for the hospital insurance if they, or a spouse, paid Medicare taxes when they were working. 

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