QUESTION:

Supplemental Medical Insurance program, (Medicare, Part B), 2007 planned cuts

Many of us who are enrolled in Medicare have received e-mail asking us to write to our Representatives in Congress to protest the proposed cuts to Physicians for services provided under Medicare, Part B. The Congressional Budget Office, CBO, is mandated to report on the fiscal impact on the Federal Budget of proposed legislation. Their report on these proposed cuts, (approximately 5% next year) is available at the following website:

http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/75xx/doc7542/09-07-SGR-brief.pdf

There is a Summary that gives you the "gist" of the CBO report.

PROBLEM: As I age, I've noticed that I've become increasingly resistent to reading these sorts of rather detailed and "dry" documents.

TIP: The way that I manage to plow through these documents, (with some comprehension), is that I copy them to a blank MSWord page. Then I go through the document and break them down into smaller paragraphs. And I highlight various words or phrases that I believe are key to understanding the report. Since this is all done with the click of a mouse, it is not labor intensive. In fact, for me, it's fun.

It helps that I have a friend who still works but who is very interested in these issues. So I e-mail these reports with my edits in them to him. Whether he always reads them, I'm not sure. (He is gracious enough not to say that.) But it does benefit my understanding to be able to go through these documents with a electronic "high lighter".

I guess that it may mean that I comprehend more easily these days by doing electronically what my uncle used to do as he used a short ruler to help guide his failing sight and perhaps his failing ability to maintain concentration while he was reading to learn (vs. reading for entertainment).
asked by grandpa24551, 9/8/2006
Categories: Medicare, Health and Health Care, Aging, Health Insurance
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