> What's it going to do to the people on it now? They'll probably pay more for
> less coverage. You think you can cut $500 billion out of Medicare and not
> have it hurt beneficiaries?
Where are you getting $500 billion? MA costs 14% more than traditional FFS Medicare, or around $12 billion per year. The Baucus bill would "save" $100 billion over a 10 year period here. Sure, some seniors would lose access to vision, dental, gym memberships, etc. whatever the inscos throw in to sweeten the pot over traditional Medicare. I'm all for adding those benefits to back to traditional Medicare, as well expanding coverage for those who don't have it. Given budgetary constraints -- real and imagined -- both of those options don't seem to be on the table now. But kicking inscos out of running Medicare seems to me to be a great way to save wasted money (only a small portion of which goes to pay for expanded benefits).