Democrats sharply criticized the budget blueprint approved in April by the House, under which new beneficiaries would receive a fixed amount of money from Medicare to help pay premiums for private insurance policies.
A report on that proposal by the (Congressional) Budget Office provided ammunition to its critics. “Under the proposal,” the report says, “most elderly people would pay more for their health care than they would pay under the (current) Medicare system,” and some would choose not to buy coverage, so “the number of older Americans without health insurance would be higher.”
Health policy experts said these problems resulted from specific features of the House Republican plan and were not necessarily (inherent) in the idea of “premium support.” Medicare, they said, could move toward “premium support” without destroying the individual entitlement at the heart of the program.
The House Republicans’ budget plan would eventually eliminate traditional Medicare as an option for new beneficiaries. Ms. Rivlin would (keep) it as an option, competing directly with private insurers.
Under the House Republican plan, the federal contribution would be increased each year to reflect the age of a beneficiary and (general) inflation, measured by the Consumer Price Index. But health costs and insurance premiums have been (rising) faster than consumer prices in general, so the federal contribution was almost guaranteed to fall behind the cost of insurance.
