Medicare Premium Support getting another look

[lil mike]

This was the basis for the Ryan plan, which Nancy Pelosi said would abolish Medicare as we know it.

Looks like some Democrats are getting on the "abolishing Medicare as we know it" train.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/25/us/politics/support-builds-for-premium-support-plan-for-medicare.html?_r=2&pagewanted=all

Support Builds for a Plan to Rein In Medicare Costs

Though it reached no agreement, the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction built a case for major structural changes in Medicare that would limit the government’s open-ended financial commitment to the program, lawmakers and health policy experts say.

Members of both parties told the panel that Medicare should offer a fixed amount of money to each beneficiary to buy coverage from competing private plans, whose costs and benefits would be tightly regulated by the government.

Republicans have long been enamored of that idea. In the last few weeks, two of the Republican candidates for president, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, have endorsed variations of it.

The idea faces opposition from many Democrats, who say it would shift costs to beneficiaries and eliminate the guarantee of affordable health insurance for older Americans. But some Democrats say that — if carefully designed, with enough protections for beneficiaries — it might work.

The idea is sometimes known as premium support, because Medicare would subsidize premiums charged by private insurers that care for beneficiaries under contract with the government.

Ah bipartisanship!

[Howey]

If I had  a hundred dollars for every could, may, perhaps, possibly and so on in that article, I could buy Solandra from Rick Scott.

It will never pass.

[Howey]

Um. Yeah. About that premium support, also from the NYT...just not someone like Pear who's on the RNC payroll. 

Republican politicians are touting the virtues of market competition and calling for a “premium support” plan that would give beneficiaries a set amount of money to shop among private plans for their own insurance. What they do not say is that private plans have long been more costly than traditional Medicare and have shown far less ability to slow spending. Nor do they admit that the most extreme versions of premium support — like the one championed by Representative Paul Ryan — would save the government money mainly by shifting costs to the beneficiaries, who would have to decide whether to forgo treatments or pay more for coverage.

The Massachusetts health care reforms already provide premium support to help low- and middle-income people buy private policies on an exchange. Unlike the Ryan plan, the program guarantees everyone a defined, comprehensive set of benefits, and officials bargain aggressively with private plans to keep their premiums down. As a result, annual cost increases have been held well below the premium increases for other private group insurance providing comparable benefits.

Versions of premium support backed by Congressman Ryan and other conservatives have one primary goal: pushing down growth in federal spending on Medicare, even if it means that beneficiaries have to pay far more for coverage. These proposals tie increases in premium support to indexes, like the gross domestic product or the consumer price index, that historically have risen far more slowly than health care costs.

Finally, and most important (although lilMike failed to mention this  ):

The Congressional Budget Office concluded that the Ryan plan would force new enrollees in 2022 to pay thousands of dollars out of pocket for benefits similar to those currently provided by Medicare.

Side note: I cannot fathom why lilMike's still enthralled with the Ryan Plan. Most of the republicans have even rejected it. 

[uselesslegs]

Because ultimately, Republicans (at least the libertarian minded Republicans), don't think the Government should be involved in Health care...at all.  I believe even the VA has been given the nod on the wishlist of private enterprise.

The problem is, none of these entities abilities to face rape all those new potential customers, will be addressed by legislation or any actions to curtail poor (or even inhumane) treatment (via policy for profit motives).

We always do this backwards.  We try to push something without instruction manuals or safe guards and then we act all surprised when it blows the fuck up.  The push towards Government getting totally out of the Health Care game, doesn't have anything in place to monitor or even curtail out of control costs as they relate to the economy and a citizens ability to partake.  If you think things are bad now...I can't imagine the literal feeding frenzy that will take place, and for how long, at the expense of the average American if Republicans get their way and push this notion into legislation.

 The *free market*, (as will be argued) DOES NOT weed out the shitty businesses that get their claws into our representatives, it never has.  Shitty businesses last for years and years before they take a nose dive.  That's years and years of mistreatment and misery, with quaint reminders that, "if you don't like it, take your business elsewhere."  This precludes 100's of millions of customers, going through a revolving door of finding out for themselves how horrid Corp A is...before the shitty corp entity exhausts it's sucker pool.  Years of shitty, crappy, horrible business is given a pass under the guise of the "free market" getting rid of shitty, crappy horrible businesses.  That's YEARS of fleecing and misery that are unfucking necessary...all in the name of a slow moving, surprisingly inflexible concept that enjoys survival and protection under an umbrella of ideology that defends it's right to exist, unfettered by ethics or the reality of real world fuckery.

In an Utopian world, the Free Market would have standards that weren't just ethereal or idealistic...they would be solidified practices and mandatory, with heavy HEAVY penalties for PURPOSELY betting against your fellow citizen and fucking them for profit.

There's not a REAL god damn thing in place that would stave off or stop business practices of Health Insurance from raping the average customer on a bonus inspired whim.  Contrary to popular rhetoric...the WORST thing we ever did/allowed was to make Health Insurance for profit.  You put the human condition, one of inevitable frailty and illness, against profit...and the human loses every time.  It's not a matter of if, it's when.

[lil mike]

Um. Yeah. About that premium support, also from the NYT...just not someone like Pear who's on the RNC payroll. 
 

Finally, and most important (although lilMike failed to mention this  ):
 


Side note: I cannot fathom why lilMike's still enthralled with the Ryan Plan. Most of the republicans have even rejected it. 

Ha!  My article was about Democrats climbing on board.

If Obama ends up endorsing some version of this, I've no doubt you will do a complete turn around and will claim to have always supported it!

[Howey]

Ha!  My article was about Democrats climbing on board.

Pear has a history, like you, of twisting words. I'll believe this when I'm given a name of a Democrat. Actually, names of enough Democrats to pass it.

Members of both parties told the panel that Medicare should offer a fixed amount of money to each beneficiary to buy coverage from competing private plans, whose costs and benefits would be tightly regulated by the government.

If Obama ends up endorsing some version of this, I've no doubt you will do a complete turn around and will claim to have always supported it!

ekg's right, as usual...You do have a reading comprehension problem. Most likely the result of gold and/or kool aid poisoning, or a tight fitting tin cap and/or tri-cornered hat.

THE NEXT TEST The health care reform law, starting in 2014, will provide premium support subsidies to help people with modest incomes buy private policies on new insurance exchanges. That will be the next big test of whether premium support can work to hold down costs while providing good coverage. With so many uncertainties, it would be rash to weaken or jettison the traditional Medicare program now. The good news is there is some time to get it right.

I'm all for things working right. If this works, I'll support it. Of course, if it does work, your comrades will take credit.

[lil mike]

Pear has a history, like you, of twisting words. I'll believe this when I'm given a name of a Democrat. Actually, names of enough Democrats to pass it.
 

ekg's right, as usual...You do have a reading comprehension problem. Most likely the result of gold and/or kool aid poisoning, or a tight fitting tin cap and/or tri-cornered hat.

 

I'm all for things working right. If this works, I'll support it. Of course, if it does work, your comrades will take credit.

Well I think it will take a while for Dems to climb on board in enough numbers to pass it.  I sure don't think it will happen during this administration, but ultimately even Democrats will have to climb onto some sort of variation of premium support.  There just won't be any choice.  I'm sure you've seen the graphs for Medicare growth for the next couple of decades.  It basically absorbs the entire potential federal budget and then some.  So I think at eventually there will be a tipping point when it's acceptable for politicians (as oppose to liberals in general - some of them are already supporting it) to climb aboard.  Then at that point you can claim "If this works, I'll support it" and say you've always supported it and blame the Republicans for delaying it.

[lil mike]

That was quick...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/aroy/2011/12/15/ron-wyden-and-paul-ryans-bipartisan-plan-for-health-care-and-medicare-reform/

Ron Wyden and Paul Ryan's Bipartisan Plan for Health Care and Medicare Reform

This morning, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Republican Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.) have shaken up Capitol Hill with an intriguing, bipartisan plan for reforming Medicare, and also the private-sector employer-sponsored insurance system. Politically, the plan is a huge boost to Mitt Romney, whose own remarks on Medicare reform hew closely to Wyden-Ryan; and also to House Republicans, who now have an easy retort to Democrats who were planning to attack Medicare reformers in the 2012 campaign. Substantively, the plan has many encouraging qualities, but there are also some important blanks that Wyden and Ryan will need to fill in.

Premium support with competitive bidding

The heart of the Wyden-Ryan plan is to use competitive bidding to allow private insurers to compete with traditional, 1965-vintage fee-for-service Medicare. If you want to learn more about competitive bidding, see this piece I wrote about Mitt Romney’s proposal for Medicare reform. If that doesn’t quench your thirst, you can read the definitive book on competitive bidding: Bring Market Prices to Medicare, by Robert Coulam, Roger Feldman, and Bryan Dowd.

[Howey]

Ron Wyden and Paul Ryan's Bipartisan Plan for Health Care and Medicare Reform[/i][/b]

This morning, Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden (Ore.)

**snooze**

I thought I told you to get back with us when it's passed?