I was taking a look at the latest GOP budget - it sort of reminded me of slogging through a sewer barefooted - and came upon this gem:
Our budget addresses this challenge by building a premium support program in Medicare
that will put more power in the hands of seniors and embrace the important role that
patient choices and competition among insurance providers can have in controlling costs.
The program would allow Medicare beneficiaries to choose from a range of guaranteed coverage options, including traditional Medicare, to find a plan that best fits their needs.
Premium support payments would be paid by Medicare, directly to the plan chosen by the
beneficiary.
Payments would be adjusted so that those with illnesses would receive higher payments if
their condition worsened; lower-income seniors would receive additional assistance to
help cover out-of-pocket costs; and wealthier seniors would assume responsibility for a
greater share of their premiums.
...
Moreover, this system would set up a carefully monitored exchange for Medicare plans.
Health plans that choose to participate in the Medicare exchange would agree to offer
insurance to all Medicare beneficiaries, to avoid cherry-picking, and to ensure that
Medicare's sickest and highest-cost beneficiaries receive coverage.
...
Moving to a premium support model would give seniors more freedom to choose the best
plan for them and would force providers to compete against each other on price and
quality. This means the program would work better for patients now and save the
program for future generations of seniors.
...
This includes a
catastrophic cap on annual out-of-pocket expenses, an important aspect of the private
health insurance market to safeguard the sickest beneficiaries who are most in need of
medical services, and which is currently absent from Medicare.
Hmmm, what does this sound like? Step over the thingie and let's take a look.....
... building a premium support program in Medicare...
Obamacare, at its core, is exactly that - the subsidies help individuals pay their premiums.
...carefully monitored exchange for Medicare plans...
Exchanges..... yeah, Obamacare has that, too.
...Health plans that choose to participate in the Medicare exchange would agree to offer insurance to all Medicare beneficiaries...
OK, no denials for pre-existing conditions.... check.
... force providers to compete against each other on price and quality...
Sounds familiar, yes?
Premium support payments would be paid by Medicare, directly to the plan chosen...
Obamacare does that as well.
...lower-income seniors would receive additional assistance to
help cover out-of-pocket costs; and wealthier seniors would assume responsibility for a
greater share of their premiums.
As we know, Obamacare subsidies phase out as income increases, and low-income people get assistance with their out-of-pocket expenses.
IMHO, that's about as close as you can get to Obamacare.
Now don't get me wrong, this whole idea sucks for seniors. Just for starters, Medicare exists because health insurance companies, faced with growing numbers of people living past retirement age, saw no profit in covering people who all have one thing in common: each and every one of them will die while covered.
So, just because 50 years have passed since the creation of Medicare, why would health insurance companies want to change their attitudes and cover old, sick people?
And yet, the GOP, in its budget, expect this imaginary 'free market competition' to somehow cost $148 billion LESS than traditional Medicare over the next decade.
Thankfully, this kind of atrocity is nothing more than a gleam in Paul Ryan's eye, at least until the next election.
Cheers.