Cutting payments to providers is how private insurance does it. Far more deeply than Medicare. Sometimes below cost.
But yes, doctors and hospitals are getting squeezed, and it's not good. We need serious health reform, and we couldn't get it through Congress. Cutting private insurers out of the system would have gone a long way towards fixing a lot of problems.
And, again, Ryan's plan keeps all the cuts in the ACA (while throwing the rest of the bill out). At least until he does away with all of Medicare.
Medicare needs some changes. The ACA is a start. Our entire health care system needs even more changes. As a nation, we're spending a higher portion of GDP on health care than just about any other first world country, and we're getting a lower quality of care for it. While Medicare's costs are rising, they're doing so more slowly than private insurance. There are things which can be improved with Medicare, but it's the whole system that needs to be overhauled. Throwing Medicare away, as Ryan wants to do, is not the solution.
As for Medicare's costs - are you including the giant unfunded Part D prescription coverage passed by Republicans?
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Date: 2012-08-14 02:39 pm (UTC)But yes, doctors and hospitals are getting squeezed, and it's not good. We need serious health reform, and we couldn't get it through Congress. Cutting private insurers out of the system would have gone a long way towards fixing a lot of problems.
And, again, Ryan's plan keeps all the cuts in the ACA (while throwing the rest of the bill out). At least until he does away with all of Medicare.
Medicare needs some changes. The ACA is a start. Our entire health care system needs even more changes. As a nation, we're spending a higher portion of GDP on health care than just about any other first world country, and we're getting a lower quality of care for it. While Medicare's costs are rising, they're doing so more slowly than private insurance. There are things which can be improved with Medicare, but it's the whole system that needs to be overhauled. Throwing Medicare away, as Ryan wants to do, is not the solution.
As for Medicare's costs - are you including the giant unfunded Part D prescription coverage passed by Republicans?
Oh, and let's not forget that Medicare's imminent doom has been cried for decades, and yet it's still functioning as well as ever. Not everyone agrees it's going bankrupt now.
Yes, it needs serious, thoughtful review. Not just taglines and not just politics. I hope we can get that.