With most of the health insurance debate focusing on universal health care, Medicare Trustees admitted this week that the Medicare Hospital Trust Fund, and the Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund "expenditures are growing more quickly than the rest of the economy - that is troubling news," according to Morgan Moran of Florida Health Insurance Web, a health insurance consultant.

(PRWEB) March 31, 2008 -- No other topic is more important to Florida, than health insurance. Florida continues to lead the way in terms of sheer numbers of newly arriving retirees, each of these new Floridians hope their savings, and health insurance policies will be enough to get them through their golden years. Then, the latest news from Medicare arrived and is bad news for Florida. "Currently Medicare expenditures eat up 3.2% of the GDP a total of ($432 Billion)," Morgan Moran of Florida Health Insurance Web, said in a phone interview, "the total is expected to rise to 1 Trillion dollars by 2083."

The health insurance consultant continued, "The latest figures show Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will be insolvent by 2019." This year the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will pay out more than its earns, and over the next 10 years (equal to $342 billion). "Funds will more than likely need to be transferred from the Federal treasury to cover beneficiaries' hospital insurance expenses," said Moran.

Florida Health Insurance Consultant Moran is quoted as saying, "The government needs to act quickly to address Medicare's fiscal health, and enact steps which would postpone the insolvency date. Congress should quickly act on this warning, which would allow the program to be modernized and transformed." More information on this story is available at the insurance web site www.FloridaHealthInsuranceWeb.com.

A Medicaid Services Administrator, Kerry Weems states, "A person who is 54 years old today cannot be assured that Medicare hospital insurance benefits will be there when he or she turns 65 and first becomes eligible for Medicare."

Moran said, "That's why we are already beginning to implement steps to make health care services under Medicare as effective and efficient as possible for beneficiaries."

Moran continued, "We need to transform the Medicare program now, while we can, from being a passive bill-payer to an active purchaser of healthcare" by giving quality and cost information to providers and beneficiaries to choose the most effective and efficient care. This can be done by enhancing competitive bidding strategies, paying more to higher quality providers than lower quality, and demonstrations that use care coordination."

Florida Health Insurance Web is a Florida health insurance consulting service. Contact Morgan Moran for information regarding Group, or medical insurance information.

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