I am not well versed in the inner workings of Medicare. I do know that the plan, like all things related to health care and health insurance, needs some tweaking. We face an aging population and swelling health care needs. There is always room for improvement. What strikes me most about the terminology we use is the irony; there is very little focus on “care” when it comes to all things health related. Patients become numbers, statistics, and actuarial data. Doctors and insurance companies see dollars. More energy is spent caring about money than caring about people. And now we’ve come to a point in our country where our choices can impact the most vulnerable among us, the elderly. I encourage you to read what the Brookings Institute has to say on the issue of Medicare reform.
I am not here as an insurance expert, but as I write about the topic of Medicare from a lay perspective, I cannot help but cringe at the thought of a voucher system. Something about this system seems sketchy to me. We continue to implement consumer compromises in an effort to reduce costs, but have yet to hold insurance companies accountable. Unfortunately, there are no lobbyists for regular people, and we don’t have the muscle to throw our weight around Congress.
The voucher system sounds good on paper alone. It does not take into account realistic increases in health care costs that seniors would have to pay out of pocket. The plan on paper would have you think seniors would actually make money by pocketing the difference between coverage and actual costs. The truth is, coverage would be eroded over time as health care costs and premiums rise.
There are no guarantees.
Vouchers are supposed to fuel competition. There is still no solid evidence on how that plays out. The crux of the challenge continues to be the insurance companies. How can we ensure they are regulated and not participating in deceptive practices? The fleecing of the elderly is rampant in all things financial. I spent almost 10 years working in the financial services industry and worked a great deal with the elderly population. Policies, tax codes, investments, and such are confusing to the most knowledgeable among us. The complexity is simply mind-numbing and exponentially so for many seniors.
This is how I see it from a purely human perspective ... We are talking about one of our country’s most vulnerable populations here. There are stories in the news everyday about people who try to swindle the elderly. Why would our own government be a part of that treachery? We are talking about 50 million Americans here. Not numbers, not statistics. People. The question to ask is this: Do our leaders care more about the financial deficit or the moral deficit our country faces? We must take care of our people.
This post is part of a weekly conversation with our Moms Matter 2012 political bloggers. To see the original question and what the other writers have to say, see Should Medicare Be Replaced by Subsidies?
Image via James McTaggart
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Comments 47
Lovemyviolet-You have to make money to pay people and federal government makes no money whatsoever. Non profit is a tax term not one we in the business world use. I was not saying the weekly standard is bipartisan I wanted to illustrate my point, and that info doesn't come from the weekly standard. So let me try to explain to you. First off reducing fraud and abuse costs money, you don't save until you invest in the things that will find where you have the fraud and abuse. That means we have no idea how much money we will have to spend to save in the future because we do not yet know where all the fraud and abuse lays. Also you know they are going to hire federal investigators who they will want to give full benefit packages to and we don't know how much that would cost alone. You are saying we will do all of that and only gain eight years and you think that's a good idea. Not to mention the fact that there have been more than one commission to try to substantiate the Presidents claims and they can't back him up.
You are the one's believing a party's lies my dear. I don't see much difference between Obama and Romney I am just voting on who the best bet is and I know Obama is incompetent. Funny how you are all upset about Ryan's plan when its not even in play but none of you seem to care we haven't had a budget in three years. Obamacare if flawed and if he gets a second term you will find out by how much. Ryan at least has time to change his plan and make it better.
I for one am not happy with the AHA as it is now. It needs a lot more work, but it's a start and is further than EITHER party has gotten before.
I'm happy that you are so smart to have figured out that Obama is incompetent and that flip-flop, lies everywhere Romney is the answer.
"Not to mention the fact that there have been more than one commission to try to substantiate the Presidents claims and they can't back him up." Really? Please enlighten me. Tell me who these commisions all are.
"You are saying we will do all of that and only gain eight years and you think that's a good idea." Actually, I am not the one who is saying that we gain 8 years. I found that info in many different reports BUT yes I do think it's good because that gives us 8 years to really figure it out and fix the issue.
In Romney/Ryan's plan if benefits aren't cut, and already low provider reimbursements aren't further reduced, then by 2021 about 19 million people will need to be dropped from coverage. Many of those covered by Medicaid are very poor elderly people, or those who are blind or disabled. If states acted to preferentially protect those groups from cuts, then 27 million other people, many of them children and pregnant women, would be dropped from Medicaid.
If you're ready to take that gamble so be it.
BTW- Yes I do care that there hasn't been a budget in 3 years, but unlike you I do not lay the blame of that issue only on the POTUS shoulders. I realize that it is a problem with BOTH parties.
Also, it's funny that Ryan has the time to change his plan (to what?) but Obama apparently would not be able to make any changes or tweaks to his?
If your not blaming Harry Reid you have a problem. The Republican House of Representative's has voted on a budget and Harry Reid refuses. If Obama can't even work with his own people how can you trust him to cross party lines. Now I'm not going to find all the commissions for you since I have a life to live and have given you way to much time, and we will never agree. I believe Romney and Obama are both progressives and I'm just voting for the light version. What you don't understand is the President is killing small business in this country and I know this as a small business owner. So yeah I am going to gamble on the guy that has actually ran a company and knows how to do his checks and balances. Also to your last point last I checked we are already stuck with Obamacare so how much tweaking do you think he will do. You worry about the Presidential race and I will worry about the one that matters in the Senate.
When it comes down to it, would you rather have obamacare or <a href="http://www.atriohp.com">medicare advantage enrollment</a>? I do not want obamacare. I would rather have medicare.