OUR BATTLES ARE SO BITTERLY PARTISAN PRECISELY BECAUSE NOTHING DIVIDES US ON THE ISSUES:

Support Builds for a Plan to Rein In Medicare Costs (ROBERT PEAR, 11/25/11, NY Times)

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. [...]

Mr. Obama's health care law provides "premium support" for people below age 65. The government will offer subsidies, in the form of tax credits, to help people buy coverage marketed by private carriers on an insurance exchange.

If this approach works for commercial insurance under the new law, it could allay concerns about similar changes to Medicare.

Competition among private insurers has already driven down costs for prescription drug coverage under Medicare. Medicare's drug benefit is delivered entirely by private insurers. In addition, one-fourth of the 48 million Medicare beneficiaries are in private Medicare Advantage plans, offered by companies like UnitedHealth and Humana, which cover a wide range of doctors' services and hospital care.

The new health care law is cutting payments to Medicare Advantage plans. Republican lawmakers predicted that the cuts would lead insurers to increase premiums, reduce benefits or pull out of the program. But so far the dire predictions have not been borne out.

On average, the Obama administration said recently, Medicare Advantage premiums will be 4 percent lower in 2012 than in 2011, and insurers expect their Medicare enrollment to increase by 10 percent. 

Everyone knows how we'll reform entitlements and make the budget "crisis" disappear, we're just reluctant to join hands with the other party to achieve it.  After all, if my party agrees with their party then what's the point of all my political passion?

Posted by oj at November 26, 2011 6:31 AM
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