Designed to Fail

The President's Medicare plan contains nothing innovative or new, and does not change the structure of the program. Instead, it focuses on providers, adjusting payments and adding utilization hurdles without changing financial incentives. Most of the ideas were swept up from the CBO budget options book, so they score as savings. The provider cuts are not painless, but also not unexpected. Increasing premiums and cost-sharing is delayed until 2017, which makes no budget or policy sense but plenty of political sense. That adds up to acceptance by the "super" committee. However, if the tax changes are included, the package will fail to be enacted even though Congress could support the Medicare pieces. That gives Obama what he wants: an election-year debating point without having to sign even routine health spending reductions into law.

Joseph Antos is the Wilson H. Taylor Scholar in Health Care and Retirement Policy at AEI

 

Also Visit
AEIdeas Blog The American Magazine
About the Author

 

Joseph
Antos

  •  


    Mr. Antos's research focuses on the economics of health policy—including Medicare and broader health system reform, health care financing, health insurance regulation, and the uninsured—and federal budget policy. He has written and spoken extensively on the Medicare drug benefit and has led a team of experienced independent actuaries and cost estimators in a study to evaluate various proposals to extend health coverage to the uninsured. His work on the country’s budget crisis includes a detailed plan to achieve fiscal stability and economic growth developed in conjunction with AEI colleagues.  


    Joseph Antos is also a health adviser to the Congressional Budget Office and recently completed two terms as a commissioner of the Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission.  Before joining AEI, Mr. Antos was Assistant Director for Health and Human Resources at the Congressional Budget Office and held senior positions in the U.S.Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Management and Budget, and the President’s Council of economic Advisers.


     



    Watch Mr. Antos in an interview with Bill Erwin of the Alliance for Health Reform on "Will Health Reform Reduce the Federal Deficit?"


    nullFollow Joseph Antos on Twitter

  • Phone: 202-862-5938
    Email: jantos@aei.org
  • Assistant Info

    Name: Catherine Griffin
    Phone: 2028625920
    Email: catherine.griffin@aei.org

What's new on AEI

image How to stop Assad's slaughter
image FHA Watch, May 2013 (Vol. 2, No. 5)
image Apple becomes latest target of the Beltway shakedown
image Lack of adult supervision in the Obama administration
AEI on Facebook
Events Calendar
  • 20
    MON
  • 21
    TUE
  • 22
    WED
  • 23
    THU
  • 24
    FRI
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Free beer: Liberating libations from ‘Bootleggers and Baptists’

Join us for a discussion of the history and future of federal and state alcohol regulation and competition, followed by a reception with beer, wine, and spirits.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
NCLB sanctions: Tests taken, lessons learned

Join education scholars and practitioners for a discussion about the latest NCLB research and its implications for future education policy.

Thursday, May 23, 2013 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Competing visions of the common good: Rethinking help for the poor

What shared commitments do we have as citizens and neighbors to care for one another? How can a proper ordering of America’s political economy enable the most people to have the best life? At this event, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), a longtime champion of human rights causes, and AEI President Arthur Brooks will join Wallis in addressing these and other questions.

Event Registration is Closed
No events scheduled this day.
No events scheduled this day.
No events scheduled today.
No events scheduled this day.
No events scheduled this day.