Another GOP Plan To Privatize Medicare Is On The Drawing Board

Dana Milbank describes another plan being discussed by the GOP that privatizes Medicare. The plan is supported by several GOP leaders but it is also being resisted by some because Medicare is very popular. If the GOP takes over government some version of "consumer directed healthcare" will be forthcoming from the GOP. All of their ideas on healthcare are based upon market solutions which assume that demand for healthcare services will fall if consumers have to pay a larger share of the cost. Their assumption is correct but it also means that more Americans will not have access to healthcare. The share of American's covered by employer provided health insurance has decreased by around 15% over the last decade. Cuts in government provided healthcare, at the same time that employer provided health insurance is falling, is bad news for most Americans.