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Did you know Romney-Ryan will cost seniors more, but pointing that out is misleading?
No, Romney-Ryan wouldn’t increase Medicare costs by $6,400
Posted by Sarah Kliff
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Multiple think tanks used Congressional Budget Office data to estimate the impact that Ryan budget would have on seniors. And they did indeed find that Medicare beneficiaries would end up spending more.
The Center for Budget Priorities and Policy estimated seniors would eventually pay $6,400 more for their Medicare benefits. The independent Kaiser Family Foundation had a slightly different estimate of $6,870. Politifact has looked through the various estimates and finds they are “all in the same ballpark.”
That’s where the numbers come from. At the time, Romney said that “anyone who has read my book knows that we” — meaning him and Ryan — “are on the same page.” But when Romney outlined his own plan Medicare, it was substantially different. The Republican governor does envision a bigger role for private plans that administer Medicare benefits. But he doesn’t eliminate traditional Medicare outright, nor tie his vouchers to the low growth rate that led to the $6,400 estimate. Here’s how it’s put on the campaign’s website
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Could traditional Medicare become more expensive than the private plans? That’s certainly a possibility — the Medicare voucher seniors receive could fail to cover the cost of purchasing the public option. And Romney does turn the plan from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution, which substantially changes Medicare. But it doesn’t eliminate traditional Medicare as an option, and the $6,400 figure is an estimate of an entirely different plan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/04/no-romney-ryan-wouldnt-increase-medicare-costs-by-6400/
Posted by Sarah Kliff
<...>
Multiple think tanks used Congressional Budget Office data to estimate the impact that Ryan budget would have on seniors. And they did indeed find that Medicare beneficiaries would end up spending more.
The Center for Budget Priorities and Policy estimated seniors would eventually pay $6,400 more for their Medicare benefits. The independent Kaiser Family Foundation had a slightly different estimate of $6,870. Politifact has looked through the various estimates and finds they are “all in the same ballpark.”
That’s where the numbers come from. At the time, Romney said that “anyone who has read my book knows that we” — meaning him and Ryan — “are on the same page.” But when Romney outlined his own plan Medicare, it was substantially different. The Republican governor does envision a bigger role for private plans that administer Medicare benefits. But he doesn’t eliminate traditional Medicare outright, nor tie his vouchers to the low growth rate that led to the $6,400 estimate. Here’s how it’s put on the campaign’s website
<...>
Could traditional Medicare become more expensive than the private plans? That’s certainly a possibility — the Medicare voucher seniors receive could fail to cover the cost of purchasing the public option. And Romney does turn the plan from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution, which substantially changes Medicare. But it doesn’t eliminate traditional Medicare as an option, and the $6,400 figure is an estimate of an entirely different plan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/04/no-romney-ryan-wouldnt-increase-medicare-costs-by-6400/
Team Obama’s Erroneous Claim About Romney’s Medicare Plan
Sahil Kapur
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“What’s missing from the Romney-Ryan plan for Medicare is Medicare,” she told the Charlotte, N.C. crowd. “Instead of the Medicare guarantee, Republicans would give seniors a voucher that limits what is covered, costing seniors as much as $6,400 more a year.”
<...>
It’s misleading — or at best unsubstantiated. The figure is based on the Congressional Budget Office’s scoring of Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan released in 2011. It does not apply to his less harsh 2012 Medicare blueprint — which mirrors the Romney campaign’s plan.
The key differences between the two approaches: the 2011 Ryan plan phases out traditional Medicare entirely, beginning in 10 years, and provides private insurance vouchers that grow at the rate of inflation — lower than typical health care cost growth. Romney’s 2012 plan, by contrast, sustains traditional Medicare as a government-run insurance option and pegs the value of the vouchers to the price of the second cheapest policy in the system. That is its common thread with Ryan’s 2012 plan, which also caps program growth below GDP+0.5. It’s unclear who bears the costs if insurer bids exceed the growth cap.
In the long-run, seniors are likely to pay more for Medicare under Romney-Ryan. But conveniently for them, their current plan — which unwinds the coverage guarantee — is structured in a way that leaves CBO unable to project how much more seniors might pay.
- more -
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/romney-ryan-medicare-voucher-6400-sebelius.php
Sahil Kapur
<...>
“What’s missing from the Romney-Ryan plan for Medicare is Medicare,” she told the Charlotte, N.C. crowd. “Instead of the Medicare guarantee, Republicans would give seniors a voucher that limits what is covered, costing seniors as much as $6,400 more a year.”
<...>
It’s misleading — or at best unsubstantiated. The figure is based on the Congressional Budget Office’s scoring of Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan released in 2011. It does not apply to his less harsh 2012 Medicare blueprint — which mirrors the Romney campaign’s plan.
The key differences between the two approaches: the 2011 Ryan plan phases out traditional Medicare entirely, beginning in 10 years, and provides private insurance vouchers that grow at the rate of inflation — lower than typical health care cost growth. Romney’s 2012 plan, by contrast, sustains traditional Medicare as a government-run insurance option and pegs the value of the vouchers to the price of the second cheapest policy in the system. That is its common thread with Ryan’s 2012 plan, which also caps program growth below GDP+0.5. It’s unclear who bears the costs if insurer bids exceed the growth cap.
In the long-run, seniors are likely to pay more for Medicare under Romney-Ryan. But conveniently for them, their current plan — which unwinds the coverage guarantee — is structured in a way that leaves CBO unable to project how much more seniors might pay.
- more -
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/09/romney-ryan-medicare-voucher-6400-sebelius.php
It's Vouchercare that cost seniors more, but it's misleading to claim that it will because Romey-Ryan used slight of hand to remove the defiinitive link, leaving a huge hole in their proposal so that even the CBO is unable to score it.
Dear Everyone attempting to be fair and balanced to the point of being silly: Romney-Ryan ends Medicare as we know it. Medicare is not a voucher system. Seniors will pay more (up to $6,400). Period!
6 replies
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