"We can 'save' Medicare by expanding it" great piece in Santa Cruz Sentinel

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/opinion/ci_15708814
Claudia Chaufan: We can 'save' Medicare by expanding it

Posted: 08/08/2010 01:30:40 AM PDT
Claudia Chaufan

As Medicare celebrated its 45th anniversary July 30, the White House sent its present: a Deficit Commission, composed by some of the very folks who were unable, or unwilling, to see the $8 trillion housing bubble that brought the financial system to a halt. Nope. It's no joke: these folks are now at the forefront of the campaign to "save" Medicare and the budget.

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To be sure, aging baby boomers will add pressure to Medicare, and the program can be improved: rather than allowing dubious "Advantage" plans, benefits in traditional Medicare could be expanded; gaps, now covered through Medigap policies, a source of profit for insurers yet a financial burden for seniors, could be eliminated; the Kafka-esque Part D could be dumped and Medicare could be allowed to use its huge purchasing power to negotiate prices directly with drug companies, rather than banned from doing so; and doctors' payments could stop being subject to flawed accounting formulas liable to political manipulation.

But all this is a far cry from the privatizing trends pushed by Congress and President Obama, who famously has said that when it comes to the deficit, "everything is on the table," including the two bedrocks of America's social safety net, Social Security and Medicare.

So if everything is on the table, how about saving Medicare by expanding it to include everyone living in America? How about replacing the insane patchwork of thousands of plans and paper-pushing designed not to provide access to care, but to undermine it, with a single paying public agent? Over $400 billion could be saved with this move alone, without adding a dime to overall costs. This amount would generously cover all -- not "near" all -- the uninsured, and improve the coverage of a growing number of Americans who must settle for skimpy policies and unaffordable out-of-pocket costs that drag thousands to bankruptcy annually.

I for one am happy to see that the battle for true health care reform continues. I agree with every sentence in this opinion piece.

[xchrom]

1. recommend

[tsuki]

2. As someone who will be on the Republican Health Care Plan for

15 months after my COBRA runs out in Oct, I K&R.

[Zenlitened]

3. K&R. Everyone knows Medicare For All is the best solution. Too few, howver, will admit it. - n/t

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

4. evening kick. Many stories of incrased premiums and reduced coverages

higher out of pockets, etc.

If your jumping off premise is "presrving private delivery systems" then you will never get to where reform needs to go.

The public is way ahead of the paid politcos on this on.

[Little Star]

5. Phoebe, can you cross post this in the Senior Forum please? k&r