I just did a quick read of this plan, so there is more to come. However, let’s get one thing over now. It has no impact on current Medicare beneficiaries or anyone who will retire in ten years.
Beyond that I must say I am not impressed. That is unless you gauge achievement by the number of times you can use “quality, “affordability” and “competition” in a proposal.
The plan relies on private insurers competing for Medicare customers and that is supposed to lower costs and improve quality. We’ll see, but let’s not forget that even if you have five insurers in a state competing for customers, for all practical purposes they all must use the same doctors and hospitals as does Medicare.
A thought comes to mind, will the quality of care you receive from one doctor vary based on your insurer? Will any innovative efficiency by Medicare or a private insurer not be used by all?
And what about the competition we already have among Medicare Advantage plans, why hasn’t that kept Medicare costs under control?
As I said, there is much more to come as we get into the details, but it appears once again we are barking up the wrong “competition” tree.
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