Obama Medicare plan: No voucher but maybe a bill

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — He’ll never turn Medicare into a voucher, but if you are lucky enough to be financially comfortable in retirement, odds are you’ll pay higher premiums under President Barack Obama’s plan. It’s not just the 1 percent who’ll feel the pinch.

And take note, baby boomers: The Medicare you get won’t be quite as generous as what your parents’ generation enjoys. A higher deductible here, a new co-payment there, and the tweaks add up.

With the future of Medicare on the line in the presidential election, The Associated Press asked the Obama campaign five questions about how his plans for seniors’ health care would affect critical issues of costs and benefits. (The AP also sent Republican Mitt Romney a set of questions, and the responses are the subject of a companion report.)

Unlike Romney, Obama is not calling for a major Medicare remake. Most of the president’s cost-cutting ideas are incorporated in his health care law, and will phase in unless Romney wins and makes good on his pledge to repeal it. Other Obama proposals are drawn from government advisory groups or bipartisan commissions seeking consensus on how to reduce deficits.

Read more: http://www.salon.com/2012/09/23/obama_medicare_plan_no_voucher_but_maybe_a_bill/