deviation from uniformity is confusing, and bad, and the fault of Republicans
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/07/washin…
WASHINGTON, May 6 – Insurance companies have used improper hard-sell tactics to persuade Medicare recipients to sign up for private health plans that cost the government far more than the traditional Medicare program, federal and state officials and consumer advocates say…
those plans may be more expensive than traditional Medicare for some patients, because the co-payments for some services may be higher. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission says that the cost to the government is also higher because it pays the private fee-for-service plans, on average, 19 percent more than the cost of traditional Medicare.…
Only the government could create a system where it subsidizes either option A or B, and then gets upset because the incentives it has created lead third parties to actively spread the word about option B, which costs the government more than option A.
Wonderful!
Richard S. Foster, chief actuary for the Medicare program, said “the additional payments to Medicare Advantage plans, above and beyond the costs” of traditional Medicare, were causing higher premiums for all beneficiaries and speeding the depletion of the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund for Medicare.
The solution is to either (a) discontinue all plans; (b) discontinue plan B; (c) forbid third parties from communicating this information to people eligible for the plan.
Which approach will the leftists take?
Option C, variant two: not quite forbidding the third parties from their behavior, but demonizing them, because they are motivated by … wait for it… profits (boo-hiss!)
Insurers frequently offer cash bonuses, trips and other financial incentives for agents to increase sales in the Medicare market.
Oh noss!
Just as a refresher, who created this “problem” ?
The private fee-for-service plan is like a privately administered version of traditional Medicare. Congress authorized such plans in 1997
No, not our wonderful government!?!? It’s impossible that the People’s Socialist States of America could have done this!! Surely we can find a scapegoat?
…at the urging of the insurance industry, rural lawmakers and the National Right to Life Committee, which opposes not only abortion, but also euthanasia
Yay! It’s not our beloved technocrats in D.C. that are to blame! It’s gay bashing, puppy-killing, Christ-worshipping crazy people from Nebraska, who are so unenlightened that (a) they live in rural locations, (b) they oppose abortion; (c) they oppose killing old people. Wooh! Close call; it turns out that government is good and dandy and perfect after all.
Brock A. Slabach, administrator of the Field Memorial Community Hospital in rural Centreville, Miss., said that private fee-for-service plans were causing havoc at his 25-bed hospital.
“People are signing up for programs they don’t understand,” Mr. Slabach said. “Agents for a private fee-for-service plan set up tables in front of a grocery store or a drugstore here. Seniors think they are signing up to get drug coverage or just to get more information. The next thing they know, when they show up at our hospital, they are in that company’s plan.”
Oh nos! Patients are getting insured by the government, and showing up at a small 25-bed hospital, which is swamped by the demand (at the price point). That’s causing havoc! What ever happened to the rationing?
Kelly E. Van Sickle, director of managed care at Catawba Valley Medical Center in Hickory, N.C., said, “Private fee-for-service plans have flooded our market and created significant confusion for our senior population.”
“Choices”?
We call it “confusion” !
Oh noss!
