Republicans in Congress voted last week to change Medicare to a voucher program, starting in 2022. People turning 67 in 2022 and beyond, would receive a voucher from the government which would be used to purchase health insurance. The health insurance choices would be approved by the government and would include a range of plans, some with lower-cost, but higher co-pays and deductibles. Seniors would choose the plan that fits their perceived need for coverage as well as their voucher’s value.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) studied the  voucher proposal and reported that voucher values would increase slightly each year, while health care costs would rise at a faster rate.  According to the CBO, voucher coverage would not keep pace with health care costs, requiring seniors to pay more and more of their health care costs each year.

The value of vouchers would be based on the income level (and assets?) of each senior, so the lowest income seniors would get higher-value vouchers. Higher-income seniors would get lower-value vouchers and would have to pay more of their health insurance premium.

Republicans see vouchers as a way to control rising costs for Medicare by limiting the government’s responsibility to the cost of vouchers.  Currently, Medicare’s budget depends on how much medical care people receive each year (for which Medicare pays the bills). Medicare spending is rising at 6-7% each year, which is the major problem for the future of the program.  If the yearly increase in Medicare spending can be reduced to just 3-4%, Medicare in its current form will not go broke. But figuring out how to slow this increase in spending is the billion dollar question. Vouchers are the Republican answer to this question.

What do you think?

When Americans get a checkup from their doctor, they pay twice as much as people in Canada, France, and the Netherlands.  Prescription costs in the U.S. are double what the Dutch pay.  And having a baby in the U.S. is double the cost of giving birth in Germany.

In the U.S. we spend twice as much on health care per capita each year than other developed countries – and yet we come in last in outcomes such as: quality of care, equity, efficiency, and people living long, healthy lives.

The following graphic comes from medicalbillingandcoding.org

Via: Medical Billing And Coding</a

I came across a very informative web page with answers to frequently asked questions about what health care reform  means for people in Arizona.  The web page is part of website for the Arizona Department of Insurance. Given that the state of Arizona is suing the federal government to block the Affordable Care Act, I was surprised to find a very concise list of questions and answers about “Obamacare” on an Arizona state government web site.

Here is the link: http://www.id.state.az.us/healthcarereform.html