It’s as yet unclear what the Trump administration and the Republican Congress will do to Medicare. The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, if adopted, would appear to let traditional Medicare wither on the vine and force new Medicare enrollees into Medicare Advantage. But, that’s a politically fraught agenda that would also drive up Medicare spending significantly, as Medicare Advantage costs a lot more than traditional Medicare.
If Republicans are looking for ways to fund their massive tax cuts, they could address the massive overpayments in Medicare Advantage, which are projected to cost more than $1.4 trillion over the next decade. Republican Senators Cassidy, Blackburn and Braun all see the need for this reform. Taking some of the savings to put an out-of-pocket cap in traditional Medicare would help level the playing field between Medicare Advantage and traditional Medicare and promote competition–but strengthening traditional Medicare is likely a bridge too far for Republicans.
If Republicans want to lower health care costs and raise wages for Americans, without hurting industry, they might consider Phil Longman’s proposal this week in the Washington Monthly–Medicare prices for all. The idea is simply to have employer-sponsored health plans pay providers Medicare prices–not the current average of 254 percent of Medicare. And, then, Longman would require corporations to share the savings with their workers in the form of higher salaries.
Of course, hospitals and specialists would push back. But, the data suggests that they would suffer little as a result, according to Longman. Most hospitals are non-profit and could manage on Medicare rates.
Medicare prices for all would neither raise taxes nor require people to give up their private insurance. It would simply eliminate predatory health care prices to the benefit of Americans. Is there a Republican in Congress who would support it?
Here’s more from Just Care:
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