Ryan Deficit Reduction Plan (bykilling Medicare & Medicaid) would more than double beneficiary costs

[Bill USA]

...in other words it would massively add to the number of uninsured who would have to go to hospital emergency rooms for crisis intervention treatment... which is subsidized by us (the Government) at a much higher rate than if they were covered by medical insurance and got timely proactive medical care.

Ryan thinks he's protecting the profits of the insurance companies but in the long run the insurance companies will lose so many insured they will shrink dramtically in size. After many of us join the ranks of the unisured, we finally will see the need for a single payer approach to medical care. So, I guess the Ryan "plan" of killing off medicare and Medicaid as now constituted (protecting medical insurers profits and somehow at the same time trying to provide some sort of adequate medical coverage for citizens) will in the end lead to the only rational approach to this issue - once that is, a society/community realizes adequate health care should not be a privilege reserved only for those who can afford to pay the 'freight' but rather something everybody should be able to enjoy and that society in general benefits from this approach.

http://democrats.energycommerce.house.gov/index.php?q=news/reps-waxman-and-pallone-release-fact-sheet-on-cbo-analysis-of-republican-budget-plan-impact-on-">Reps. Waxman and Pallone Release Fact Sheet on CBO Analysis of Republican Budget Plan Impact on Medicare



On April 5, 2011, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an analysis of the Republican budget proposal offered by Rep. Paul Ryan. Its estimates show that the Republican budget will double Medicare beneficiary premiums and cost-sharing for seniors and persons with disabilities entering the program in 2022, and continue increasing those costs in 2030 and beyond. <1>, <2>

Ranking Member Henry A. Waxman states, “The Republican budget is devastating for Medicare beneficiaries. Over the next decade, it would more than double beneficiary costs for new enrollees, increasing the average senior’s out of pocket health care expenses by more than $6,000 annually. All of that extra spending by seniors and people with disabilities would go to private plans.”

Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. states, “The findings by the non-partisan experts show that the Republican Medicare plan will result in reduced coverage for seniors and force them to pay more for what they get. Their plan will end Medicare as we know it by eliminating guaranteed coverage and converting it into a voucher program. By turning the program over to the private marketplace the insurance industry will see a financial windfall, but seniors will literally pay the price. The GOP plan is a bad prescription for Medicare and for the seniors who have long relied on the vital health care it provides.”

Key findings from the CBO letter include:

•The Republican proposal would more than double beneficiary costs in 2022, from $6,150 to $12,513. <3>

•That is an increase of more than $6,000 per year in beneficiary premiums and co-insurance.

•Not one dollar of that increase in beneficiary costs goes to reducing the deficit in 2022 – it all goes to cover the higher costs of private plans that the Republicans would force seniors to join. <4>

•All of that cost increase in 2022 is a result of CBO's assessment that private plans cost much more than traditional Medicare. <5>
•Beneficiary costs would increase by $11,600 in 2030 and would continue rising thereafter. These increases are caused by both the higher costs of private health plans and direct shifting of costs to the beneficiary.

•Millions of seniors would immediately begin paying higher costs for prescription drugs because the Republican budget would re-open the Part D drug donut hole.

(more)


the Ryan Budget "plan" does have value though, ...... as the inspiration for the next Wes Craven movie.

[jwirr]

1. And since Medicaid pays the premiums for the poor on Medicare

there would be no one to help them. Which means more uninsured.

[Turbineguy]

2. What repubs and teabaggers don't seem to grasp

is that money that go to programs for the poor, employs many middle class people. That does not mean than pouring all the money to the poor would solve all our problems, but the rich need the rest of society to function.