Fix Health Care Policy

Medicare—on its current path—cannot be sustained. At a recent hearing held by the Senate Special Committee on Aging, Ranking Member Senator Bob Corker (R–TN) stressed the importance of Medicare reform. According to Corker, in 2011, “The U.S. spent $572 billion on Medicare, and spending is projected to increase to $1 trillion in 2021.”

The relationship between the amount citizens pay in to Medicare and the benefits they receive presents another losing equation for taxpayers. If an average couple combined makes $87,000 a year, they will pay $119,000 (including their employers’ contributions) into Medicare in their lifetimes but receive $357,000 in benefits. This disparity points to a clear structural flaw that must be addressed. As Joseph Antos of the American Enterprise Institute pointed out, “Business as usual with a few tweaks will not be effective in preserving Medicare for the long term.”

Saving Medicare will require transitioning the program to a premium-support system, which would allow seniors to choose a private health plan that works best for them, using a government contribution and requiring insurers to compete for their business like they currently do in Medicare Advantage and Medicare Part D. Heritage’s Saving the American Dream plan outlines how to achieve this.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: AARP, AEI, benefits, Medicare reform, Saving the American Dream, taxpayer subsidies

If at first you don’t succeed, change the message. That’s the lesson learned when it comes to the new trillion dollar health law passed this spring.

One of the central advocacy groups who pushed for the Obamacare recently held a confidential “messaging” conference call with the progressive movement where they revealed the results of extensive polling on the new law. Remember when the left was confident their controversial health care vote would soon be cheered by the public? The thinking was that Jane and John Doe simply needed more time to understand the two and half thousand page bill, because the year-long health care debate wasn’t enough time for them to get a grasp on it.

The left might not want to hold their breath while waiting for the public to applaud their bill. That’s because the people know this bill better than progressives do. In fact, just yesterday the Kaiser Health Tracking Poll reported that favorability of the bill dropped to 43% in August. The professional left has now realized this and thus the reason for the advocacy group’s hush-hush “messaging” call. (more…)

Tags: AARP, Kaiser Health Tracking Poll, Medicaid, ObamaCare, Rep. Peter Roskam

This week National Journal Online asked their stable of health experts: Would the leading Democratic health care reform proposals result in a better or worse Medicare?

Heritage Foundation Vice President for Domestic Policy Stuart Butler responded:

“On the face of it, the reform proposals would help ease the $37 trillion unfunded obligations of Medicare, making it a tad more viable for current and future seniors. But the savings on one credit card just become new liabilities on another. Moreover, if the key cuts actually went into place it would be a disaster for seniors. In the Reid bill, physician fees are to be cut more than 20 percent in 2011 and kept there indefinitely. That would cause docs to leave in droves and mean care cutbacks from those who remain. And Medicare’s chief actuary says payment rate cuts will cause up to 20 percent of Medicare hospitals to become unprofitable. Medicare Advantage, it’s true, would not cut to the bone, but there will be a significant erosion of benefits and far fewer plans available.” (more…)

Tags: $37 trillion, AARP, American Medical Association, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare commission

AARP has endorsed the Pelosi health bill, H.R. 3962, but in reviewing the list of ten reasons it has given for its support and comparing those reasons to the bill itself, its advocacy for the legislation seems missed placed. There is a massive disconnect between several of the reasons for support and the bill itself. The inconsistencies include:

Protecting and strengthening Medicare—the bill cuts Medicare payments to providers including hospitals, nursing homes, and home health agencies which AARP historically has not viewed as protecting the program. Moreover, the bill does not use the savings for the purpose of extending the Medicare Trust Funds but rather spends the money elsewhere.

Improving Medicare’s payments to doctors—the proposal simply puts more money into a flawed price control system in which the lowest performing doctor gets paid the same as the highest performing doctor. Moreover, 25 percent of the cost of the increase in doctor payments will get passed onto AARP members. The costs due to the bill’s failure to reform the Medicare payment system will be passed on to seniors. (more…)

Tags: AARP, Medicare, Obama Health Care Plan

The Washington Post reports today:

The nation’s preeminent seniors group, AARP, has put the weight of its 40 million members behind health-care reform, saying many of the proposals will lower costs and increase the quality of care for older Americans.

But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been the group’s substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that could come its way from many of the reform proposals.

The group and its subsidiaries collected more than $650 million in royalties and other fees last year from the sale of insurance policies, credit cards and other products that carry the AARP name, accounting for the majority of its $1.14 billion in revenue, according to federal tax records.

The AARP is not the only special interest group shelling out money to support Obamacare in hopes of future returns. Politico reported earlier this month: (more…)

Tags: AARP, American Medical Association, crony capitalism, David Axelrod, Obama Health Care Plan, PhRMA