Fix Health Care Policy

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

What is President Obama’s plan for Medicare—Obamacare’s changes and beyond?

Heritage has a new Issue Brief, “Obama’s Medicare Plan: Seniors Will Pay More,” that details the future increases in out-of-pocket costs for seniors under current law and President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal.

Over the next five years, under current law, seniors in traditional Medicare are projected to face higher Part B and D premiums, along with other out-of-pocket cost increases. Instead of structurally reforming Medicare, President Obama’s 2013 budget proposal would raise premiums even further for upper-income enrollees in Parts B and D, while also imposing additional deductibles and co-payments (in certain cases) on newly joining baby boomers beginning in 2017.

“Obama’s latest budgetary scheme for cost-shifting to seniors is just another indication that the Administration and its allies on Capitol Hill are running out of options,” the authors write.

Read the full report here.

Tags: Medicare, out-of-pocket costs, pay more, plan, premiums, President Obama, Seniors, traditional program