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The Ryan Budget Includes Devastating Health Care Cost Increases for Seniors?Again | Center for American Progress
The fiscal year 2014 House Republican budget resolutionreleased today by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)is strikingly similar to last years plan in its treatment of our nations Medicare program. The misguided budget proposes replacing traditional Medicare benefits for seniors with a voucher toward the premium of an insurance plan provided by a private insurer or Medicare starting in 2024.
As our analysis of last years nearly identical Ryan plan illustrates, House Republicans premium-support plan would not only create a death spiralin which less-healthy beneficiaries leave the traditional Medicare plan, causing premiums to rise and resulting in more beneficiaries leaving the program, causing premiums to rise againbut it would also result in substantially higher premiums for seniors, forcing them to pay as much as $1,200 more each year by 2030, and as much as $5,900 more each year by 2050. As a Center for American Progress Action Fund report details, seniors will face steep increases in their health care costs during retirement under a Medicare premium-support plan. The first seniors hit by these changes could pay up to $59,500 more during retirement, with those who will be eligible for Medicare in 2050and are currently 28 years oldpaying up to $331,200 more.
These radical changes are unnecessary. Evidence is mounting that the growth in health care costs is slowing down, thanks in part to systemic changes that are underway. As a result, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently revised its projection for Medicare spending downward by $137 billion over the next decade.
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The fiscal year 2014 House Republican budget resolutionreleased today by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)is strikingly similar to last years plan in its treatment of our nations Medicare program. The misguided budget proposes replacing traditional Medicare benefits for seniors with a voucher toward the premium of an insurance plan provided by a private insurer or Medicare starting in 2024.
As our analysis of last years nearly identical Ryan plan illustrates, House Republicans premium-support plan would not only create a death spiralin which less-healthy beneficiaries leave the traditional Medicare plan, causing premiums to rise and resulting in more beneficiaries leaving the program, causing premiums to rise againbut it would also result in substantially higher premiums for seniors, forcing them to pay as much as $1,200 more each year by 2030, and as much as $5,900 more each year by 2050. As a Center for American Progress Action Fund report details, seniors will face steep increases in their health care costs during retirement under a Medicare premium-support plan. The first seniors hit by these changes could pay up to $59,500 more during retirement, with those who will be eligible for Medicare in 2050and are currently 28 years oldpaying up to $331,200 more.
These radical changes are unnecessary. Evidence is mounting that the growth in health care costs is slowing down, thanks in part to systemic changes that are underway. As a result, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently revised its projection for Medicare spending downward by $137 billion over the next decade.
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