Today's Wall Street Journal posted an article on the Senate's proposal to lower the age for people to 'buy in' to Medicare and lower the income requirements on Medicaid. It's an amazing solution to our healthcare problem, since both of these programs are scheduled to run out of money in the not-to-distant future (even with their present rate of growth). They also seem to have forgotten the large number baby boomers who will automatically qualify for Medicare in the next few years.
The article points out:
"Medicare reimburses doctors and hospitals at rates 70% to 80% below those of private insurers, which means below the actual treatment costs in many cities and regions. Providers either eat these losses--about half of U.S. hospitals are running a deficit or close to it--or they raise prices for private payers. This cost-shifting isn't dollar for dollar, but all empirical research shows that it adds tens of billions of dollars to consumer health bills, and this will accelerate if several million new patients are added to Medicare. That means higher prices for health insurance."
This means that as more people move into Medicare and Medicaid, more financial pressure is put on doctors and hospitals. One of the other unintended consequences from this idea would be the chance that employers would drop healthcare for anyone over 55. Why would a private business pay for something the government will provide?
The bottom line here is that the Senate is desperate to pass a bill labeled 'healthcare reform' and send it to the President for his signature. In their rush to do this, they have put aside common sense and the interests of the people who elected them. All the Democrats really want is a bill passed before Christmas.
The alternative healthcare proposals (which haven't gotten much publicity) from the Republicans include tort reform, portability of insurance across state lines, insurance for people with pre-existing conditions, and tax credits to help people afford health insurance. Those are the reforms that would actually save money and save American healthcare!
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