1. They should eliminate the BILLIONs of fraud that is in the system FIRST.
2. Pushing people into HMO-s does NOT save money, it's just a different set of people make money at the expense of the patients.
3. By SELECTING the group of people to be put into HMO-s, as "the elderly, blind and disabled", who comprise only a quarter of all the people on Medical, they are making a decision based on the "useless eater theory". Why should we be paying for medical care for people who are "better off dead anyway".
4. Why not demand proof of legal status and citizenship and push ILLEGAL aliens into HMO-s?
5. If they want to restructure the program, to have people pay small co-payments, enough so they can afford it, but it may keep them from going to see the doctor unnecessarily, may be one possibility.
But there is just something wrong with limiting medical care based on "useless eaters" approach, while providing unlimited medical care to the illegals.
Medi-Care is hardly unlimited itself. It should not be the job of taxpayers to be the provider of first resort
Not that I disagree with you or anything like that =o)
This is frightening. HMOs stay viable by rationing healthcare. Those who need it most will not get it. This is the first step on the slippery slope to forced euthanasia.