Mission accomplished!
Note the pattern behind the good Senators: tastes great, costs less! Someone has convinced Congress of the following:
- More money can be squeezed out of a near-bankrupt Medicare system in order to finance a new system that will dictate how private insurers and employers design and price health care benefits. (See the recent CMS study here.)
- That near-bankrupt system should be used as a model to extend coverage to people between the ages of 55 and 64. No offense to my good friends in that age range, but it really is a prime age for lots of health care activity.
- A health care system that heavily relies on "cost-shifting" to the private, commercial health care population (notice all those doctors who say "we're not taking any more Medicare patients"?) will be fine as the market is shrunk even further.
- Public opinion, as expressed in those town hall meetings that were held, is a fringe element that should be ignored.
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