One expert says seniors would lose with Ryan's Medicare plan

The Republicans’ pledge to dismantle and eventually replace the Affordable Care Act has been getting considerable attention in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton. But once the new GOP-controlled Congress takes action in January, there could be plenty more fireworks when Republican leaders turn their attention to Medicare, the popular but pricey health care program serving 57 million seniors.

Medicare, created in the mid-1960s to guarantee health care coverage for seniors and retirees, is a complex system that includes Part A for hospital insurance, Part B for doctor and medical insurance, private plans called Medicare Advantage, and the Part D subsidized prescription drug plan. The government spent a total of $648 billion on Medicare in 2015. And while the Medicare trust funds are relatively solvent for the time being, Medicare Part A which is dependent on payroll taxes will be “depleted” by 2028 unless the government intervenes, according to a trustees’ report.

House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) claims that the system is going “broke” and is leading a renewed charge to overhaul Medicare as part of a larger GOP strategy to slow the rate of growth of entitlement programs and avert major debt problems down the line. He calls his plan, unveiled in June, “A Better Way.” Key elements include raising the age of eligibility from 65 to 67; merging Medicare Part A and B, including the premiums and deductibles; and gradually privatizing the system with government-issued vouchers or “premium supports” to defray the cost of insurance policies purchased by seniors on the open market.

“Medicare . . . by many measures has served seniors successfully since the 1960s by providing access to health care for millions and contributing to longer life expectancies,” Ryan wrote. “Despite these successes, the program faces notable challenges, including a complex financial structure and projected spending growth that make the program unsustainable for the long term.”

But his plan has already begun to draw sharp opposition from an array of groups and critics, including AARP and other seniors’ advocacy organizations, labor unions, veterans, liberal think tanks and policy experts.

Philip Moeller, an award-winning business journalist, author and expert on aging, health and retirement, is among the vocal critics of Ryan’s approach. Moeller is the author of the forthcoming book, Get What’s Yours for Medicare: Maximizing Your Coverage; Minimizing Your Cost (Simon & Schuster). He also is a research fellow at the Center on Aging & Work at Boston College.

In an interview with The Fiscal Times on Tuesday, Moeller argued that while the half-century old Medicare program clearly is in need of some tweaking and reforms to maximize the quality of medical treatment while slowing the long-term growth in government costs, he rejects the Ryan approach as too draconian. Moeller contends that the average American would be “less well-off over time” and that the plan would be “relatively disadvantageous” for lower-income seniors.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/one-expert-says-seniors-would-lose-with-ryans-medicare-plan/ar-AAkELrp?li=BBnbfcL

What do you expect from an Ayn Randian sociopath?