Romney's Health Care Plan Would Make Seniors Pay, Study Finds
Source: Business Insider
Romney's Health Care Plan Would Make Seniors Pay, Study Finds
Sahil Kapur, TPM|Oct. 15, 2012, 2:41 PM
Converting Medicare into a voucher program modeled on the plan Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have proposed would increase premiums for the majority of seniors, even ones who choose to remain in traditional Medicare, according to a comprehensive nonpartisan study (PDF) released Monday.
The Kaiser Family Foundation delved into the likely impact of transforming Medicare into a premium support system. Under that approach, the federal government would provide seniors a subsidy to shop for insurance plans from a menu of competing private plans and traditional Medicare. That subsidy would be capped at the value of the second least costly premium in the marketplace.
Using 2010 data as a model, Kaisers study found that among seniors who chose to remain in traditional Medicare, more than half would have paid higher premiums. Just under half would have paid the same. That wouldve yielded an average premium hike of $720 annually for seniors who chose to remain in traditional Medicare.
Among seniors with private Medicare Advantage plans, 88 percent would have paid higher premiums unless they switched to a cheaper plan with less generous benefits. On average, seniors already in private plans would have paid $1,044 more annually, according to the study.
Read more: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/kaiser-study-medicare-premium-support.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+tpm-news+%28TPMNews%29&utm_content=Google+Reader#ixzz29OdO49JP
Thav
(946 posts)but one that is similar.
In other news: Water is wet; ice is cold; the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.
denverbill
(11,489 posts)I think taking the Ryan plan is a safe estimate since every Republican in the House voted for it.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)they are laying out the framework for privatization. Seniors will have to pay
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)You need to know this before you vote. A lot of seniors have a lot less money than you think.
For many young people, Romney's plan would mean they had to help their parents pay for health insurance.
This is bad news.
You may not realize how little money your parents are spending. A lot of elderly people don't buy household items, clothes, new shoes, don't eat in restaurants (other than maybe an occasional cup of coffee) and drive cars that are very, very old. They live in subsidized housing or in homes they have owned for years. They barely pay the property tax and make no improvements.
Before you vote, check on your parents. Some have pensions. Many were supposed to have pensions but the pensions don't pay or were eaten by some company like Bain Capital.
Watch out. You may end up paying the bills that Romney wants to hand your parents. That's the way the world has worked since Adam and Eve. Watch out. This is your problem not just that of seniors.
Judi Lynn
(160,542 posts)October 15, 2012, 3:36 PM
Study: Privatized Medicare would cost patients more
WASHINGTON A privatized health care system would cause 59 percent of Medicare recipients to pay higher premiums, a study released on Monday revealed.
The research also discovered that there were stark regional differences leading to big hikes in some states and counties.
The report by the nonpartisan Kaiser Family Foundation immediately became ammunition in the presidential campaign. The group has noted that their findings should not be considered a report on Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and running mate Paul Ryan's health care plan due to lack of specific details. However, Kaiser stated that their research was modeled after the Romney-Ryan approach.
Romney and Ryan have proposed changing Medicare to a "premium support" system dominated by private plans that are paid a fixed amount by the government. President Barack Obama says replacing the current open-ended Medicare benefit would shift costs to seniors.
More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57532676/
TomCADem
(17,387 posts)(nm)
Uncle Joe
(58,364 posts)Thanks for the thread, Judi Lynn.
Response to Judi Lynn (Original post)
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