According to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, in 2013 the United States government spent $1.3 trillion on healthcare, mainly on Medicare and Medicaid, which are the government funded health insurances primarily for seniors and people with disabilities and low incomes. This report not only surprises us but raises a crucial question. Is there a way to reduce the cost of the healthcare, yet provide high quality of medical services? To resolve the high cost issue in Medicare and Medi-Cal, the California state government and the federal government agreed to introduce a new healthcare plan called the Coordinated Care Initiative (CCI), which will combine Medicare and Medi-Cal into one system. The CCI will bring notable plan changes to the people who have both Medicare and Medi-Cal, called the dual beneficiaries. The implementation of the CCI is the solution to the government funded health insurance since it will prevent the abusive use of Medicare and Medi-Cal plans yet provide beneficiaries well-coordinated healthcare and easier access to the healthcare providers.
First of all, the CCI is the solution to the high cost in healthcare since it will prevent imprudent use of Medicare and Medi-Cal. Abusive uses of healthcare plans by dual beneficiaries have been a persistent problem. According to the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services, the average medical bills spent by the dual beneficiaries, who are 100% covered by their plans, were approximately ten times more than that of beneficiaries who only own Medicare, who are responsible for the 20% of the bill. The fact that the duals are not responsible for any co-pay enables them to freely visit any health care provider and receive treatment with minimal restriction. It is the right of beneficiaries to make use of their plans, however, the fact that the numbers of dual beneficiaries make imprudent use of their