Orszag: Ryan Budget Would Increase Total Health Care Spending
In a new Bloomberg column, former OMB Director Peter Orszag explains how House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan's plan to privatize Medicare would increase total health care spending.
To some extent, the Ryan plan would shift health care costs from Medicare to the program's beneficiaries. But as Orszag's column emphasizes, that's only part of the story. The much bigger news is that Ryan's plan would increase total health spending for the elderly -- the beneficiaries' share plus the government's share -- by upwards of 40 percent, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
There are two reasons why. First, private insurance plans have much higher administrative costs than Medicare. Second, private plans have less bargaining power with health care providers and are unable to negotiate payment rates that are as low as Medicare's.
"We have a plan, frankly, that we believe in," Boehner said. "Democrats have no plan... [and] it's about time that they're honest with the American people."
Hey Mr. Speaker, is telling them they're going to have to pay twice as much for their health care to support your tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires honest enough for you?
Comment on Disqus