Thursday, April 7, 2011

Medicare: How Paul Ryan's budget would change it - CSMonitor.com

 

Medicare is a fee-for-service program which itself pays for health care procedures for most beneficiaries. Under the GOP plan, drafted largely by Budget Committee chairman Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, it would be changed into a program which subsidizes the purchase of health insurance by individuals.

Current Medicare beneficiaries, and those approaching retirement age, would not be affected by the GOP’s proposed changes. Instead they would apply to people currently 54 years of age and younger

Making health care something seniors purchase from their own pockets would unleash the power of free market competition, according to Ryan. Customers would gravitate to programs that offered higher value or greater quality, he said.

Critics counter that the Medicare subsidy inevitably would shrink relative to health-care costs due to the high rate of medical inflation

Click on the following for more details:  Medicare: How Paul Ryan's budget would change it - CSMonitor.com

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