Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross Proposes Opening Medicare To Americans Under 65
Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross Proposes Opening Medicare To Americans Under 65
Rep. Mike Ross (D-AR)
I — speaking only on behalf of myself — suggested one possible idea could be that instead of creating an entirely new government bureaucracy to administer a public option, Medicare could be offered as a choice to compete alongside private insurers for those Americans eligible to enter the national health insurance exchange, but at a reimbursement rate much greater than current Medicare rates.
The last sentence is key: reimbursing providers who treat the new enrollees at market rates (which are, on average, about 20-30% higher than Medicare rates) satisfies the provider community and conservative politicians from rural states who argue that their hospitals would close if they were reimbursed at Medicare rates. This scheme preserves the integrity of a single national program and takes advantage of Medicare’s administrative efficiencies to lower costs and spearhead delivery reforms. Still, Ross’ solution will likely save less money than a robust public option that uses Medicare-like rates and leverage.
Health reformers have long advocated opening Medicare to select populations. The Congressional Budget Office has concluded that allowing uninsured Americans 62 to 64 to buy into the Medicare program and charging the buy-in population a regular premium plus a 5 percent administrative fee, would not add to long-term Medicare outlays. Dick Gephardt and John Edwards both offered a buy-in option during the 2004 presidential campaign and, in November 2008, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) proposed expanding Medicare in the short term and phasing it out once the Exchange became operable (in 2013):
The Baucus plan would make health care coverage immediately available to Americans aged 55 to 64 through a Medicare buy-in. People in this age group face greater risk of illness than their younger counterparts. And while they may require increased access to medical care, they continue to have fewer and fewer affordable insurance options as retiree health care coverage erodes and pre-existing conditions make private insurance prohibitively expensive or impossible to obtain altogether. [...]
To fill this gap in coverage, the Baucus plan would allow individuals aged 55 to 64 to buy Medicare coverage. The option would be available to any individual in this age group who otherwise did not have access to health coverage through a public plan or a group health plan. The benefits would be the same as those available to current Medicare beneficiaries.
This idea is also very popular. Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced a buy-in amendment for the Baucus bill and, according to a Kaiser Health Poll from April 2009, 79 percent of Americans support a buy-in. A recent Robert Wood Johnson Foundation poll has also concluded that a majority of physicians (58%) also support expanding Medicare eligibility to those between the ages of 55 and 64.
After cutting a deal with Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman to increase the public option’s reimbursement rates in August, Ross announced last month that “he will vote against health care legislation if it includes a public option.” “I have been skeptical about the public health insurance option from the beginning and used August to get feedback from you, my constituents,” Ross wrote in a newsletter to constituents. “An overwhelming number of you oppose a government-run health insurance option and it is your feedback that has led me to oppose the public option as well.”
6 Responses to “Blue Dog Rep. Mike Ross Proposes Opening Medicare To Americans Under 65”
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So take Ross at his word and jujitsu him.
All the arguments that “progressives” have made about incrementalism apply with equal force to Ross’s Medicare proposal.
I mean, would you rather incrementally improve a program that already works, or would you rather incrementally improve a program that’s an experimental Rube Goldberg device and doesn’t kick in ’til 2013?
And so what if Ross wants to make the buy in high? Beat down the buy in to a figure that’s small enough to be reasonable, and then we’ll beat it down to nothing. None of this health exchange bushwa; there’s literally no evidence whatever that it’s going to work on a national scale.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:03 pmThank you so much Senator Ross. This is a great idea to avoid the public option. I am vehemtly opposed to the public option.I as a citizen of the Greats County in the World, agree that power should be balances to 65 congres, 35 adminstation. American people are smarter than the people in Washington think. Good luck with your proposal. I will pray for you and that your plan, which makes so much sense, will overwhelm the special interests who don’t want tort reform or health insurance portabiliy.
Best to you in your effort. Ann Kirksey Wetzel, a citizen of the Great State of Alabama.
God bless you and this country.
October 15th, 2009 at 9:28 pmRe: Ann’s comment that “This is a great idea to avoid the public option.”
You understand that Medicare is a public insurance plan, don’t you? Is there a disconnect here?
October 16th, 2009 at 11:37 amDr. Howard Dean has been proposing this all along, and I agree. Why create a new entity when Medicare is already there, and by allowing everyone to buy into it if they want, the addition of younger healthier people into the pool, and the premiums they would pay, would also help to offset the current shortange in the Medicare fund. They could call it Medicare Part E (everyone).
October 16th, 2009 at 7:20 pmWell, I shouldn’t be surprised that a supposed majority of CongressCritter Ross’ constituents reject “The Public Option” – because he has been misrepresenting it to them (hell, they don’t even know he’s not a Senator). It is NOT the `Guv’ment Take-Over’ of health care, but a way to allow individuals and small businesses seek the refuge of the MediCare system from the rape-&-pillage practices of the for-profit health-care-denial industry. Our small business has just seen our rates sky-rocket 19.4% this renewal cycle (after a 12% rise LAST year) – for a plan with a $4800 deductible per-person. The insurance carrier hasn’t paid one slim DIME of our care after squeezing $10,788 out of us…and it’ll rise nearly 20% starting this month.
So,`ann kirksey’ – where can I send YOU the bill to pay the difference?
October 17th, 2009 at 1:01 amI was very intrigued when I heard of Rep. Ross’ proposal. It sounds like Medicare would be offered to those 54-65 for a 5% higher monthly premium than regular Medicare (which is MUCH less than the so-called “premiums” paid to the private, for-profit, health “insurance” companies). Great!! but why not expand the risk pool to younger people? It would reduce the costs for EVERYONE.
Establishing this new health care delivery via the existing Medicare structure would be the simpler, more efficient way to go. Call it a Public Option for those die-hards, and we’re on our way to meaningful, civilized, affordable health care for this country. The Single-Payer crowd would go along too, because Medicare is a single-payer system.
October 17th, 2009 at 2:08 pm