Archive Report
Archive Report
Organization of Medicare Machinery
Twenty Million older citizens will become eligible for health benefits under Medicare next July 1. Before the new system, provided for by the Social Security Amendments of 1965, goes into effect, a multitude of arrangements have to be worked out between the federal government and the doctors, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, insurance companies, health plan organizations, and state and other agencies that will be involved in the vast undertaking.
Because Medicare constitutes a momentous first step by the United States into the controversial field of compulsory health insurance, the rules and procedures now devised will be important precedent-setters. They will influence the quantity, quality, and cost of health care that will become available under this program for the elderly. And to that ...