While we don't have a Democrat plan to fix Medicare, we do have Obama's debt commission's plan. This could give us an idea of what a bipartisan solution might look like.
Here is one very general summary of the proposals...
The report recommends capping growth in total federal health spending -- everything from Medicare to health insurance subsidies -- to the rate of economic growth plus 1%.
It also proposes reforming physician payments, cost-sharing with Medicare beneficiaries, malpractice law and prescription drug costs.
Specific proposals can be found in the commission's report beginning on page 37...
To summarize a few points, they do propose lowering doctor payments, but not to the degree of the current "doctor fix". Specifically, they propose freezing doctor payments from 2012 to 2020.
They also suggest reforming or repealing the CLASS act. That's the long-term care provision passed in Obamacare. The commission recognizes that this act wasn't properly funded and would eventually have huge cost overruns if it stays as it is.
Perhaps I missed it, but I didn't see any data showing just how much their proposals would save, or how long it would extend Medicare.
They also had much more specific suggestions to reform Social Security. To summarize...
Benefits: It would reduce initial benefits for wealthier retirees. And it would offer less generous annual cost-of-living adjustments for all retirees.
Retirement age: The plan would slowly usher in an increase in the retirement age from 67 to 68 by 2050 and to 69 by 2075. Over the same period, the early retirement age would increase gradually from 62 to 64. There would, however, those who are unable to work past age 62 would be offered "hardship exemptions."
Payroll tax: The report also recommends expanding over 40 years the amount of workers' income subject to the payroll tax, which funds Social Security. As a result, the amount of one's earnings subject to the payroll tax would rise to $190,000 in 2020, about $22,000 higher than it would be under current law.
Protection against poverty: To prevent seniors from falling into poverty -- a key mission of the Social Security program -- the report proposes creating a new special minimum benefit.
For low-income workers with 30 years of earnings, benefits could never fall below 125% of the poverty line in 2017, a level that would be indexed to wages thereafter. The formula would be reduced for workers with less than 30 years of earnings but more than 10.
In addition, to reduce the risk that beneficiaries run out of funds if they live to a very old age or are disabled for a long time, the report proposes a "20-year benefit bump-up." After 20 years of collecting benefits, a beneficiary would receive a benefit increase equal to 5% of the average benefit paid.
Pine - I looked at the pdf file you linked, and there are some detailed ideas in there on p.39. Regarding cost sharing, deductibles, co-pays and drug rebates. (with real numbers)
I agree with this quote from it:
...Currently, Medicare beneficiaries must navigate a hodge-podge of premiums, deductibles, and copays that offer neither spending predictability nor protection from catastrophic financial risk. Because cost-sharing for most medical services is low, the benefit structure encourages over-utilization of health care.
Also a lot of general talk about setting budget targets, triggers and limiting growth in spending to some fixed number, doc pay freeze. In other words, kicking the can down the road.
But like a lot of commission reports, they just sit and collect dust. :faint:
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