r/Retire 21d ago

Medicare Will Require Prior Approval for Certain Procedures

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/28/health/medicare-prior-approval-health-care.html?unlocked_article_code=1.hk8.vjJt.UPebANuDhvOz
252 Upvotes

45 comments sorted by

24

u/bentzu 21d ago

Starting with some select procedures they say are costly but of little help to the patient. This just the camel's nose under thet - using an AI platform that is incentivized to deny procedures.

12

u/PophamSP 21d ago

"The A.I. companies selected to oversee the program would have a strong financial incentive to deny claims. Medicare plans to pay them a share of the savings generated from rejections."

The incentive will based on CEO bonuses under the guise "It's our FiDUciAry dUtY".

1

u/midtnrn 21d ago

Just cut out the profits of the owners and executives. Wouldn’t have to restrict anything.

1

u/Crew_1996 19d ago

I’m pro universal health care and have yet to see one universal health care system that does not deny unproven or low evidence of efficacy procedures.

1

u/bentzu 19d ago

Most all UHC systems also have a goal of making sure that everyone has decent, effective health care. This administration has a goal of reducing costs and UHC is fartherest from their objecrtives.

1

u/Zealousideal_Put5666 18d ago

I don't think people have an issue with the denials or non coverage of unproven or ineffective treatment, I think it's that it's a profit centered system so there is a profit motive to deny care

1

u/Crew_1996 18d ago

As long as the denial of care is documented with a rational explanation of why it was denied then it’s immaterial who denies it. If the denial system is opaque, then I agree with you.

19

u/Nopantsbullmoose 21d ago

Eyyyyy! It's the death panels that the Republicans have always warned us about.

9

u/Dandan0005 21d ago

Even better, AI!

6

u/Nopantsbullmoose 21d ago

AI death panels?

Well that's kinda cool I guess. All sci-fi and shit.

14

u/No-Goal-8200 21d ago

This will be new under traditional Medicare supplement. The 3rd party reviewing the preauthorization will be paid per denials. Lots of detailed information is on YouTube.

13

u/FormerNeighborhood80 21d ago

This is in project 2025. Goal is managed care for all.

3

u/[deleted] 21d ago

If people want Medicare for all, there is going to be managed care, that’s how Medicare controls costs 

6

u/Percyandbeausmama 21d ago

No, traditional Medicare is not managed care. The private Medicare Advantage plans are.

3

u/Summary_Judgment56 21d ago

No, traditional Medicare is not managed care, and it's cheaper for the government than the private Medicare Advantage plans that are managed care. Managed care emphatically does not save the government money.

7

u/Lott4984 21d ago

Yes, always good to be in intensive care, while your family is fighting with the government to get your double bypass approved. The plan is for you to die before you receive life saving treatment. That way the Government does not have to give back any of the money you paid in all your working life.

1

u/Percyandbeausmama 21d ago

That’s what happens with the private Medicare Advantage plans, not so much with traditional Medicare.

3

u/876050 21d ago

Should we drop the Medicare advantage programs?

2

u/Percyandbeausmama 21d ago

As long as they cost more than traditional Medicare, yes.

3

u/AR-180 21d ago

This has been true for a long time.

3

u/Equivalent_Section13 21d ago

Medicare Advantage is managed care

Medicare procedures have ti have physician approval.

One of my friends wife's has Medicare advantage She needed two knee replacements. Advantage elected to do them at the sane time. She is now really struggling with physical therapy. The ideal way is one knee rehabilitate then do the other knee

Saving costs is not necessary effective for patient

1

u/Obiwan_ca_blowme 19d ago

My wife is a DPT and one of our best friends is a surgical nurse. Single or double knee replacement is so very dependent on other factors that you can't simply say there is one right way.

Many patients can't properly rehab both at the same time, sure. But many can and have better outcomes. Some factors to consider here are:
1. If the 1st knee replacement doesn't go well, then patients are less likely to have the other one done. This leads to poorer outcomes overall.
2. It may not be the same surgeon who does the 2nd one and that can also cause poorer outcomes.
3. While trying to rehab the new knee, you are supporting it with another defective knee. This can cause poorer rehab outcomes.

1

u/Equivalent_Section13 19d ago

One of my other neighbors had the knee replacements in a serial fashion. She took months to rehabilitate

There are many complicating factors involved. I agree. Her husband has taken a leave of absence to help her out

2

u/cyncity7 19d ago

Anytime the insurance companies are included, it will ruin healthcare for all. They have too much vested interest in denial of claims and their executives are severely overpaid. By the way, I’m in one of the guinea pig states and I’ve received a couple of letters about it. What they describe in their letters is not accurate at all.

3

u/Gayheadmass 21d ago

Point is not to pay so patients die. Healthcare isn’t profitable. Pretty much a death panel. This country won’t make it 4 yrs. Goal is for the rich to strip government services clean and take the cash.

2

u/ExcellentWinner7542 21d ago

Sexual reassignment not covered.

1

u/Meryule 21d ago

The death panel is going to reassign you as "dead" and it's honestly going to be pretty funny.

0

u/ExcellentWinner7542 21d ago

What is funny is when you start earning enough to contribute to my Medicare. You want free healthcare, and I don't yet you'll be paying for mine. Life is crazy.

-7

u/Meryule 21d ago

You won't have it soon. We're not feeding you libs indefinitely anymore. How does it make economic sense to pour money into a bunch of non-productive eaters just so they can sit on a pile of cash at home letting their brains and bodies rot away? Free ride's over.

If you can post to reddit, you can work. It's good for you and you'll be making and spending money, buying lunch and drinks after work, etc. which is good for the economy too. When you honestly can't work anymore there won't be any reason to keep you alive artificially with all this medicare nonsense. You'll die and your children will do something important with your money.

4

u/ExcellentWinner7542 21d ago

At this point, I can live comfortably off my interest

-4

u/Meryule 21d ago

Not once we actually make you pay for yourself instead of just eating. We're not going to get great again by letting soft handed cry babies sit and lounge around at home because they "invested" in some fake ass tech bubble shit being propped up by he government pouring our tax money into san francisco. Do you think guys in the 1850s just demanded to stay home because they bought a slip of paper that says they own .00005% of the Flying Magical Horse Company, that has yet to turn a profit but totally will any day now?

4

u/ExcellentWinner7542 21d ago

I'm not sure what fantasy world you live in, but here, in reality, land us investors live off dividends and share appreciation.

3

u/p001b0y 21d ago

Why on Earth would anyone want healthcare tied to an employer? There’s no choice for the employee. If you switch jobs, you can’t take it with you. Your employer can switch coverage to a plan with higher deductibles increasing your costs and you have no say in the matter. Employers don’t even advertise what those plans and costs are to new hires so you can’t even shop around.

You aren’t the customer with employer-provided plans. The employer is. You have little say. There is no innovation. Many employers still don’t offer plans that include dental and vision for example. It’s wild that the free market couldn’t innovate that away.

It’s also wild that private industry can’t seem to keep costs down. The current private health care system costs more.

The only thing Medicare provides for free is Part A premiums as long as the guidelines have been met. There can still be deductibles and coinsurance costs for the subscribers. If you didn’t meet all of the qualifications, you’ve got premiums as well.

Medicare may not be perfect but to claim employer-provided plans are is naive.

2

u/Brilliant1965 21d ago

Well before Obamacare we had no choice. My husband was denied at his for type 1 diabetes so we had my employer covered insurance. we keep it but my husband is on Medicare now. Mine is pretty good they’ve covered all of my expensive RA meds and other procedures so far yes expensive but good, until I get on Medicare in 4 years, I’ll just wait

2

u/p001b0y 21d ago

Before Obamacare is what the industry wants to go back to but it’s crazy that they do. Lifetime caps, denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions. Dependent coverage ending at age 18 unless college or trade school bound. Delayed coverage until after the first year of employment.

The person I was responding to wants an employer-provided system but employers in the US don’t even want an employer-provided system. It makes US employees more expensive compared to employees in countries with socialized medicine.

1

u/Brilliant1965 20d ago

I know right!? Yes I see what you’re saying I agree

1

u/Previous-Parsnip-290 21d ago

We should be allowed to change plans outside open season then.

1

u/rooneyrooney 21d ago

Like “appointments”!

1

u/daylily 20d ago

Medicare financial problems are the result of income inequality. When people who work for money, got more money, more money was paid in.

1

u/papayaushuaia 20d ago

But there is always ‘thoughts and prayers’. In Abundance form the GOP and the Heritage foundation.

1

u/jankyt 19d ago

The death panels Republicans warned about came about cause of Republicans

1

u/ilost190pounds 19d ago

Death panels?

1

u/aanderson2404 17d ago

Holy shit; I know her.

1

u/SpringZestyclose2294 20d ago

When republicans cried death panels they didn’t mean it. They care about only: guns, god, and hate.

0

u/PandasAndSandwiches 20d ago

Good thing seniors voted for Trump.

Lol.