Both presidential campaigns are attacking the other as readying the ax for Medicare - despite Mitt Romney's eventual assurances this week that he would restore previous spending levels.
In fact, President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan's Path to Prosperity - which has been widely endorsed by Republicans - call for the same limits to future Medicare spending.
"Both Ryan and Obama envision the same long-term spending path for Medicare," writes the Washington Post's Ezra Klein. "The difference between the two campaigns is not in how much they cut Medicare, but in how they cut Medicare."
Avik Roy, an advisor to Mitt Romney’s campaign, says he agrees with the “left-of-center” columnist.
“I’ve long argued the same thing,” writes Roy at Forbes.com (with the disclaimer that he’s not speaking for the campaign).
Both plans would cut about $716 billion from Medicare and limit Medicare spending growth to Gross Domestic Product plus half a percent. The desire to rein in expenses is spurred by projections that the program will run out of money because of increasing health costs and a large population shift to retirement age. Medicare trustees predict the trust funding the inpatient portion of the program will become insolvent in 2024.
Obama's Affordable Care Act, approved and now being implemented, achieves the reductions largely through cuts to insurers, hospitals, drug companies and other providers.
Ryan's plan, which does away with the Affordable Care Act but retains the Medicare cuts, would continue the current Medicare levels for those 55 and older, with changes taking effect for those who turn 65 in 2023. Those changes would result in seniors receiving a government payment they could spend either on government-run Medicare or on a private insurance plan. Ryan's plan, including the $716 billion in cuts, was approved by 235 House Republicans and opposed by four.
Supporters of the Ryan plan say the competition would result in lower costs. Critics say the plan would require out-of-pocket payments from many patients needing care. Read an in-depth Associated Press analysis. Some Democrats say the Ryan plan amounts to a mandate that requires seniors to buy health insurance - either from the government or a private company - the same kind of mandate many Republicans point to in attacking the Affordable Care Act.
(Some also point to Ryan's proposed cuts to Medicaid, which serves the indigent, saying they are much larger and more immediate than his proposed cuts to Medicare.)
Ryan's Medicare plan "almost precisely mirrors Mitt’s ideas," according to Romney's website - with the key exception that Romney's plan doesn't list any cuts or spending limits, or indicate if there will be any.
"The total impact on spending will depend on a number of factors," the site says, without detailing any specific numbers. And Romney told "60 Minutes" on Sunday that it is his budget proposal, not Ryan's, that the campaign is running on.
On Tuesday, Romney said at a Florida rally that the Affordable Care Act's planned $716 billion in cuts to Medicare are "not the right answer. We want to make sure we preserve and protect Medicare." Romney said that he and Ryan would “ensure that no changes are made to the program for those 55 and older.”
On Wednesday, Romney told CBS that he would restore the cuts, although Democrats continue to argue his plans would eventually require out-of-pocket spending by seniors.
The U.S. spent 17.3 percent of its Gross Domestic Product on health care in 2010, higher than any developed nation, according to the Commonwealth Fund. That year, it ranked 26th in the world in health, based on life expectancy and the number of years lived in full health, according to Newsweek. See these and other rankings.
Contact the writer: 714-796-6753 or
mwisckol@ocregister.com
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks