Medicare under assault

By Will Parry

Get ready to defend Medicare.

Privatizing the program is a goal the Republicans intend to pursue aggressively in 2011.

House Republicans are discussing the conversion of Medicare into a voucher system as part of their forthcoming budget proposal.  House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has floated a proposal to allow persons now in Medicare to continue their coverage and persons age 55 to 64 to enter Medicare upon reaching the age of 65.  So far, so good.

But under the Ryan plan, when persons now 54 and younger reach age 65, they would get a fixed payment – a voucher  -- to buy health insurance in the private market.  They’re calling it a “premium support” program because “privatizing” is a politically toxic term.

 “Anyone who doesn’t think privatization will mean severe cuts to Medicare benefits, I have a bridge I’d like to sell them,” Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said grimly.  “Privatization will make the cuts previously proposed by either party look tame.”

The Medicare voucher scheme received bipartisan support from a self-appointed debt reduction panel co-chaired by former Republican Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico and Democratic economist Alice Rivlin.

“The vouchers would intentionally be too low to cover the full cost of the premium to encourage seniors to shop wisely – that is, to be forced into buying lower cost and/or lower coverage plans,” said Sarah K. Weinberg, M.D., of Health Care for All Washington. “The net result would be a large shift of actual health costs to seniors who get sick.

“Yes, this would lower the federal deficit, but the cost in lives unnecessarily lost and bankruptcies of sick seniors would ruin the quality of life for families all over the nation,” Dr. Weinberg said.  “Medicare was enacted in 1964 specifically to fix these problems that were plaguing families at the time.”

Dr. Weinberg has a simple three-part prescription for Medicare:

“First the program must be saved, then it must be improved for the 21^st Century, and then it should be expanded to cover all Americans.”