Bad News From the Medicare Commission Could Have Been Worse

Breaux-Thomas Proposal Would Have Caused Medicare Beneficiaries To Pay More, Get Less & Some Would Lose Coverage Entirely

Statement of Ron Pollack, Executive Director of Families USA in response to today's outcome of the Medicare Commission:

"While today's failure of the Medicare Commission to endorse a Medicare reform proposal is bad news for Medicare beneficiaries, worse news would have been for the Commission to endorse a fundamentally flawed plan that would cause significant harm the Breaux-Thomas proposal.

"We hope that Congress recognizes that the Breaux-Thomas proposal to restructure Medicare is an ill-advised, risky gamble. The proposal misses the mark by failing to ensure the long-term solvency of Medicare and causing many unintended and unknown consequences. Under the proposal, many seniors will lose health coverage altogether. Many more will receive fewer health benefits. Still others will need to pay more for their current coverage.

"The Breaux-Thomas proposal would impose greater cost-sharing requirements on seniors and persons with disabilities and provides no guarantees that beneficiaries will have the same benefits that they receive today. And, by raising the eligibility age to 67, the Breaux-Thomas proposal will cause many older Americans those most susceptible to illness to become uninsured.

"Although the current Medicare program is far from perfect, it is a program that has served senior citizens and people with disabilities very well. Before Congress considers such a radical restructuring of the program, it should ensure that Medicare beneficiaries' well-being will be improved, not harmed, and that such restructuring will ensure the program's fiscal integrity. The Breaux-Thomas proposal does neither.

"The Breaux-Thomas proposal could not rally the majority votes it needed to make the proposal an official recommendation from the Commission. In the absence of broad support for any proposal from the Commission, Congress should do everything it can to ensure the financial stability of the program and extend the trust fund to the year 2020 by using 15 percent of the budget surplus."

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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