Fix Health Care Policy

By the Numbers: Medicare Costs for Seniors to Rise Under President’s Plan

Under current law, as amended by Obamacare, seniors enrolled in traditional Medicare can expect to face higher Part B and Part D premiums. Moreover, President Obama has planned in his 2013 budget proposal to increase income-related Part B and Part D premium coverage by 15 percent. As a result, out-of-pocket costs are expected to rise by 2017 under the president’s budget proposal.

Under Obama’s plan, “seniors will pay more — a lot more — and they will pay this steep price in many different ways,” Heritage’s Robert E. Moffit, Rea S. Hederman and Alyene Senger explain in a new paper analyzing the impact on seniors.

Americans may have diverse opinions on Medicare reform but what remains certain is that Medicare “as we know it” is already a thing of that past.

Tags: by the numbers, impact, Medicare, ObamaCare, Part D, premium support, traditional program

A Blueprint for Medicare Reform

Heritage Policy Analyst Kathryn Nix recently released a paper explaining why the premium support, or defined contribution, model for Medicare reform found in Heritage’s Saving the American Dream is the best way to get out of our health care spending and debt crises. Several elements of this approach to reform have already been applied to the program under Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage. Writes Nix, “Applying their successes to the rest of Medicare can restore permanent solvency to the program, preserve robust access to high-quality care, encourage continued physician participation, and strengthen Medicare as real insurance for tomorrow’s seniors.”

The Heritage plan would replace the current “defined benefit” structure of Medicare with a defined contribution for seniors to offset their costs, whether they choose to enroll in traditional Medicare’s fee-for-service program, keep their existing private health insurance and bring it with them into retirement, or purchase another private plan that better suits their personal needs.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: debt crises, fee-for-service, health care spending, Medicare, ObamaCare, Part D, Saving the American Dream

No More Bad Medicare Policies for a Debt Limit Deal: They Cost Too Much!

The Hill reports that conservatives in Congress are considering extending Medicaid drug rebates to low-income seniors participating in the Medicare prescription drug program (Part D) as part of a deficit reduction deal to increase the debt limit.

Transforming certain federal health programs—i.e., Medicare and Medicaid—is crucial to making a meaningful dent in the debt, but ideas like this one are best left in the Pandora’s box of bad health policy.

Low-income seniors dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid used to receive drug coverage solely from Medicaid, but after the advent of Medicare Part D, they were placed into this defined contribution drug system, where they currently enjoy wide access to a number of affordable, private options. The proposal on the table would require drug manufacturers to return a portion of beneficiaries’ drug costs back to the federal government, creating an indirect price-control scheme.  (Read the rest on The Foundry…)

Tags: affordable care, Medicare reform, Part D, prescription drug program, price-control schemes