"B. Deutsch" wrote:
> Could anyone suggest any articles (preferably available via the web) defending
> Medicare from its libertarian critics; in particular, claims about a
> cohort-based system? I'm debating someone on another forum, and although I'm
> pretty well able to argue about Social Security (which has been our main topic
> of discussion), I'm not that familiar with Medicare.
>
> To give you an idea of what I'm looking for, following my signature is a
> sample of the argument from a person I'm talking to.
>
> Thanks,
> --BD
>
> **********************************************************************
> Medicare-with its 110,000 pages of regulations, guidelines, rules, laws,
> related paperwork, and 800 million claims a year-is too complicated to manage
> and is going broke. Medicare should be redesigned to resemble the Federal
> Employee Health Benefits Plan (FEHBP). FEHBP uses more than 280 private health
> insurers that compete for the business of individual employees, keeping costs
> down while maintaining quality. The $12.6 billion in Medicare fraud, as
> identified by the Health and Human Services (HHS) inspector general, must be
> reduced in a manner that does not criminalize inadvertent paperwork errors. If
> left unchanged, Medicare will consume far too much of our children's incomes
> by doubling the current payroll tax for Medicare and Social Security. Medicare
> needs to change slowly to a "cohort-based" system so that each generation pays
> for itself and doesn't rely on its children to foot the bill. Any savings
> under a FEHBP-style plan would be budget neutral in the first four years, with
> an initial savings of $6 billion starting in the fifth year, then exceeding
> $100 billion over ten years. Prescription drug coverage should be provided as
> part of overall Medicare reform.
>
> The Public Health Service will spend $212 million in subsidies to institutions
> for educating physicians, nurses, and public health professionals. The money
> is generally distributed via contracts to schools and grants to schools and
> hospitals for designated health profession training. Primary care and
> community-based training gets the lion's share of funding at $146 million,
> while nursing education receives approximately $66 million. According to CBO,
> "the number of physicians - the principal health profession targeted by the
> subsidies - has rapidly increased, rising from 142 physicians in all fields
> for every 100,000 people in 1960 to 278 in 1996." Market forces should
> determine the incentive for people pursuing training and jobs in the health
> profession.
> **************************************************************************