At some point, HHS Secretary Kathy "A W Livingston" Shecantbeserious became a parody of herself. The exact moment that this occurred is unclear, but certainly this kind of over-the-top rhetoric does little to diminish the feat:
"I think there's no question ... people will run out of money, very quickly [under the GOP Medicare plan if you have cancer]. And if you run out of the government voucher and then you run out of your own money, you're really left to scrape together charity care, go without care, die sooner. There aren't really a lot of options.”
Paging Dr Bugs Bunny.
First, it's pretty pathetic that the same agency which boasts Sir Donald Berwick would have anything to say about killing off old people: pots, kettles and all that.
More importantly, though, the so-called Ryan Plan would do no such thing. The "vouchers" would enable seniors to pick the plan that's right for them, but includes a safety net for the most catastrophic of claims. And it's pretty funny that the same political party that brought us ObamEchanges© would deride the same kind of mechanism for seniors.
Cato's Michael Cannon rebuts that "voucher-like Medicare reforms will lead to reductions in the per-unit cost of producing certain goods and services, and therefore to lower prices." Considering health care in this way helps to really drive home the point that costs are not, in fact, the same as expenses (a point that we've made repeatedly here at IB).
Michael also reminds us that "”nearly 30 percent of Medicare’s costs [spending!] could be saved without adverse health consequences.”
Indeed.
"I think there's no question ... people will run out of money, very quickly [under the GOP Medicare plan if you have cancer]. And if you run out of the government voucher and then you run out of your own money, you're really left to scrape together charity care, go without care, die sooner. There aren't really a lot of options.”
Paging Dr Bugs Bunny.
First, it's pretty pathetic that the same agency which boasts Sir Donald Berwick would have anything to say about killing off old people: pots, kettles and all that.
More importantly, though, the so-called Ryan Plan would do no such thing. The "vouchers" would enable seniors to pick the plan that's right for them, but includes a safety net for the most catastrophic of claims. And it's pretty funny that the same political party that brought us ObamEchanges© would deride the same kind of mechanism for seniors.
Cato's Michael Cannon rebuts that "voucher-like Medicare reforms will lead to reductions in the per-unit cost of producing certain goods and services, and therefore to lower prices." Considering health care in this way helps to really drive home the point that costs are not, in fact, the same as expenses (a point that we've made repeatedly here at IB).
Michael also reminds us that "”nearly 30 percent of Medicare’s costs [spending!] could be saved without adverse health consequences.”
Indeed.
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