Health care from the lowest bidder.
What could go wrong?
You run off all the folks who wish to provide good reasoned service for a reasoned price, by refusing their bids to bring in the lowest bidder who will cut too many corners.
All sounds good until you realize they won’t use the same judgement you would, if hiring a contractor.
Heart surgery for $372.50? Why not? You win! Welcome aboard our newest health contractor.
Obamacare for elders. What could possibly go wrong with that?
Insurers, including traditional government-run Medicare, would bid against each other to offer the usual complement of Medicare services.
Medicare recipients are 65 and older. Unlike standard healthcare insurance, there isn't really any pool of healthy individuals making few claims to offset those making more claims. So you're asking insurance companies to bid on providing coverage for people they haven't a chance of making a profit on. So why should they want to get into the business?
The Social Security increase for 2018 which was a pathetic 2% (government joke, right?)ended up being nothing because they increased the cost of garbage Medicare!!
Net gain (bend over) was ZERO! That was a huge help NOT.
The University System in Georgia recently went to a similar “premium support” plan for its retirees. Each retiree gets a fixed amount of money to spend on medical insurance premiums (for Medicare Part D and Medicare Advantage or Medicare Supplemental insurance). The immediate problem for many retires is that the premiums have risen by 10-15% per year, while the “voucher” amount has remained the same. Over time the “subsidy” will become a smaller fraction of the premium.
“There are some provider issues that we may be addressing as you know. Some providers in the Medicare field in some cases are getting overpaid.
Certainly not the physician providers. However, if this is the prevailing view, most independent physicians will drop out. Ironically, as providers drop out there will be competition for self pay patients and prices will fall.
Legislation to allow private contracting for Medicare providers and patients could help.
Until republicans have 60 votes in the Senate, nothing can happen.
The Democrats will always vote against anything having to do with medicare that is not of their own making
The 60 vote rule essentially eliminates the Senate from government