Fix Health Care Policy

 

In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on defined-contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). In fact, much of this criticism is distorted, misleading, or just plain wrong.

Here are some articles that set the record straight:

See the full list on The Foundry…

Tags: biased, defined contribution, Medicare, mistruths, myths, premium support system

 

Medicare is shaping up to be a deciding factor in the debate over our nation’s future.

As Heritage’s Bob Moffit and Alyene Senger explain in a recent paper, “Why Traditional Medicare Must (and Will) Be Reformed,” the status quo in Medicare is unsustainable and unacceptable due to the program’s structural and financing flaws.

Here are a few reasons Medicare needs to be reformed:

• Medicare spending is growing faster than any other federal program. Medicare spending has reached unsustainable levels and is contributing to our budget deficits more quickly than any other program. Further, over the long term, Medicare has made $37 trillion worth of benefit promises to future seniors that are simply not funded. The hospital insurance trust fund is projected to be insolvent by 2024. 
• While seniors have paid for their benefits, their payments do not cover the costs of the program. In 2011, approximately 88 percent of Medicare’s spending was funded by taxpayers. A large part of the problem is the erroneous belief that seniors have fully paid for their benefits. In fact, Moffit and Senger explain that, “on average, a one-earner couple who retired at age 65 in 2011 and earned an average wage will have paid just $60,000 into the program but will receive an estimated $357,000 worth of benefits.”
• Medicare enrollment is set to skyrocket. Baby boomers have already begun to retire. At the current rate of retirement, the program will enroll 10,000 beneficiaries into Medicare every day from 2011 to 2030. Moffit and Senger explain that “enrollment is expected to jump from 48 million beneficiaries in 2011 to 81 million by 2030.” This is coupled with a 50 percent decrease in the proportion of workers contributing to the hospital insurance trust fund over the same period. The outlook: more beneficiaries and fewer workers paying taxes to support them.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: coverage, graphs, Medicare, myths, ObamaCare, payments, pictures, spending

In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on a defined contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). In fact, much of this criticism is distorted, misleading, or just plain wrong.

Here are some articles that set the record straight:

Kaiser Study on Medicare Assumes Seniors Don’t Like Lower Prices (Drew Gonshorowski)

The Heritage Foundation, 10/16/12

“The Kaiser study assumes that an entire class of Americans—senior citizens—is insensitive to price. In reality, seniors are price sensitive when they are presented with options. Already, 90 percent of retirees can and do choose the private health plans they like, ranging from supplemental insurance to Medicare Advantage and Medicare drug plans.”

Presidential Debate Prep: Understanding Obamacare’s $716 Billion in Cuts to Medicare (Bob Moffit and Alyene Senger)

The Heritage Foundation, 10/16/12

“As the Medicare debate intensifies, there still seems to be popular confusion regarding the $716 billion in ‘savings’ from Obamacare’s Medicare payment cuts. Let us end the confusion.”

The Problem with Kaiser’s Premium Support Study? Seniors Are Smarter Than That—and So Are Health Plans (Joe Antos)

AmericanEnterpriseInstitute, 10/15/12

“The Kaiser report emphasizes a worst-case scenario. To reach their conclusion, the authors assume that no beneficiary would change health plans even if a less expensive option would save them hundreds of dollars a month.”

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: Medicare, myths, ObamaCare, premium support, repeal the law, Seniors

 

You’ve probably heard some scary things about Medicare reform lately. Words like “vouchercare” and an alleged $6,400 cost increase are now permanently etched into liberal talking points — even though these myths have been debunked time and again. Our colleagues at Heritage Action are keeping a running tally of the most outrageous myths.

Now you can play along, too. Today we introduce a new quiz show called Medicare Myths. Watch the video to see the biggest whoppers from opponents of Medicare reform. Our first episode features House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Shelley Berkley, Chris Van Hollen, and MSNBC host Al Sharpton.

Why should you care? Medicare is the fastest-growing federal program. Every day, approximately 10,000 seniors become eligible to receive benefits. Without reform, Medicare is unsustainable.

See the video on The Foundry…

Tags: $6400, federal health program, Heritage Action, Medicare, myths, ObamaCare

In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on a defined contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition, going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). In fact, much of this criticism is distorted, misleading, or just plain wrong.

Here are some articles that set the record straight:

Commentary:

Obama’s Medicare Cuts Will Affect Benefits (Bob Moffit)

National Review Online, 10/12/12

“Question: If you cut funding for benefits, will you then affect persons dependent upon those benefits? Of course you will. Financing directly affects the quantity and quality of the benefits available to the beneficiaries.”

Vice Presidential Debate: True/False Quiz on Medicare (Alyene Senger)

The Heritage Foundation, 10/12/12

“During the debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Representative Paul Ryan, several claims were made about Medicare. Some of these were true, others false.”

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: beneficiaries, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, myths, premium support, truth

Opponents to Medicare reform have been making plenty of erroneous claims about Medicare premium support lately, one of the worst being that Representative Paul Ryan’s (R–WI) premium-support model, co-authored by Senator Ron Wyden (D–OR), would cost future seniors an extra $6,400 a year. This claim is simply false.

Buried beneath the wild and scary allegations are the facts, which Heritage expert Rea Hederman details in his recent paper “Why Medicare Premium Support Would Not Cost Future Beneficiaries $6,400 More.”

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: $6400 extra, beneficiaries, erroneous claims, Medicare Advantage, myths, premium support, reform

In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on defined-contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition, going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). Much of this criticism is distorted, misleading, or just plain wrong.

Here are some articles that set the record straight:

Read the full list on The Foundry…

Tags: Medicare, Medicare Advantage, misleading, myths, premium support

A debate that has been fought largely over the airwaves is about to go head-to-head. Medicare reform is a huge part of that debate, and the left—bolstered by the media—has been promoting two huge falsehoods on the issue.

Several proposals from conservatives and liberals for Medicare reform, including The Heritage Foundation’s Saving the American Dream proposal, are based on a financing model called “premium support.” What that means: Medicare has a premium cost, just as other health insurance does. When the government makes a contribution (sometimes referred to as a “defined contribution”) toward paying your premium, that is called premium support. The difference with reform is that the government would no longer dictate to seniors which Medicare plan they would have to use. The government would still support the premium, but the seniors would have the option to choose from a variety of plans tailored to their needs, including traditional Medicare.

The concept is already working in several areas of Medicare, including Medicare Advantage plans and the prescription drug benefit program. Program savings in the drug program have been spectacular, and in Medicare Advantage and the drug program premiums have been stable. Patient satisfaction is very high in both programs.

But two whoppers are still circulating—let’s put them to rest once and for all.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: cost savings, greater competition, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, myths, premium support, prescription drug benefit program, whoppers

In recent weeks, liberal politicians, editorialists, and policy analysts have vigorously attacked reform of Medicare based on a defined contribution financing. In fact, this approach to reforming Medicare has a long bipartisan tradition, going back to the 1980s and Representatives Richard Gephardt (D–MO) and David Stockman (R–MI). In fact, much of this criticism is distorted, misleading, or just plain wrong.

Here are some articles that set the record straight:
Obamacare will end Medicare as we know it (Paul Howard)

Washington Times, 9/27/12

“Both parties like to play the ‘Mediscare’ card, so the question is not whether we need to slow the rate of Medicare spending (we do), but whether the cuts are structured in a way that makes Medicare sustainable over the long run.”

Medicare Coupons, Strokes, and Heart Attacks (Bob Moffit)

National Review Online, 9/25/12

“The Medicare misinformation machine is spinning overtime. As President Ronald Reagan once said, ‘Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn’t so.’”

Boos Subside as Ryan Explains the Truth (Grace-Marie Turner)

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: bipartisan, health care, Medicare, myths, ObamaCare, premium support, round-up, setting record straight

During a Sunday evening interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” President Obama made numerous factually inaccurate or misleading claims.

Specifically, Obama claimed that he has not raised Americans’ taxes, that he has not raised costs for Medicare beneficiaries, and that he has imposed fewer regulations than his predecessor. The first two claims are false, and the third is highly misleading.

Obama: “You can’t ask me to…ask seniors to pay more for their Medicare.”

Fact: Obamacare’s cuts to Medicare will raise Medicare costs for many seniors.

Read the rest on The Foundry…

Tags: "60 Minutes", beneficiaries, CBS, facts, Medicare, myths, ObamaCare, President Obama, Seniors, taxes