The October 23 Washington Post article that quote the October 21 Health Affairs article that suggested George W. Bush has had more to do with tamping down Federal government spending on Medicare than President Obama concentrated on the Part D Medicare drug plan program.
But if there is anything to the theory it would not just be the Part D portions of the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act (MMA) that made a difference. The 2003 MMA changes to the Part C Medicare health plan program, which originally became law in 1997 under President Clinton, have also had an effect in bringing down Medicare healthcare costs because the managed accountable care that is the key ingredient of most Part C plans is now showing to be more effective than un-managed fee for service (FFS) care known as traditional Medicare.
In fact, this accountable-care concept is now so well accepted that it was brought over and made a key part of all the insurance enabled by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) for people not on Medicare and PPACA is also quietly moving everyone on FFS traditional Medicare into accountable care organizations without even giving them a choice.
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