If anyone thinks the Ryan Plan has no chance to impact Medicare due to its unpopularity, there is disturbing evidence to the contrary in this November 29, 2011 article from Bloomberg BNA, as well as a recent story in the Dallas Morning News:
To Cap Costs, Employers Considering Defined Contribution Health Insurance Plans Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Faced with the recent economic challenges as the automobile industry in Michigan has struggled, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan was the first insurer to offer a defined contribution system, Rubleski said.
The defined contribution system operated by Bloom helps employers better predict current and future health expenditures, Rubleski said.
Moving to defined contribution systems “is now creating better consumers of insurance” because they can choose plans that best suit them. — Kevin Kickhaefer, Bloom Health
And how, exactly, does this work?
If an employer contributed 70 percent of premiums before switching to the defined contribution, for example, it would usually continue contributing that percentage, Kickhaefer said. Under the defined contribution system, employers can keep their costs in check by tying increases to increases in revenue, he said.
In other words employers will NOT continue paying the same share of costs, but will instead shift the burden to employees. Sound familiar?
Insurance companies are not waiting for Paul Ryan or an election or anything else before implementing defined benefit plans that sound a great deal like the Ryan plan. Of course this is private sector employer insurance, not Medicare, and I didn't think much about it until I read in a newspaper I happened to pick up the other day that this is being looked at with Medigap policies. The article was "Dallas-area health companies focus on cutting costs, improving care", and I believe the date was June 24, 2012 (I apologize, I don't have access to the story. If anyone subscribes to the Dallas Morning News, maybe you can pull it up and extract the paragraph about medigap policies? I would appreciate it, and will update upon receipt).
I can see it now. The ACA is overturned and the GOP says hey, here's a plan that is "working" real well to contain costs in the private sector. And LOOK! It's really great stuff, really helping out the consumer (small print*) And gosh, if it's helping Medicare members with their Medigap policies, just imagine how fantastic it would be for Medicare itself!
Oh, my, of all things, it's the Ryan Plan! Who would have guessed it?
If there were no other reasons to vote for Democrats, this one is sufficient in itself.
small print * : (according to the insurance industry)