Representative Paul Ryan's misguided health care overhaul
First off, I must admit a bias. I think Ryan is a twit. His acknowledgement last week that he would consider running for President if there was a call for his participation says it all. He is smart enough to be dangerous but not so smart that he is any better than warmed up leftovers.
I'll agree with the consensus that confronting spending issues and the promises of the past is a worthwhile cause. Ryan, unfortunately, has bent over for every hocus pocus belief of what are called Republicans these days.
Privatizing Medicare is such a terrible idea. Elderly people are the least empowered, mentally and physically, to make the choice Ryan envisions that would make a free market solution work. In a broad sense, the responsible sons, daughters, and relatives for the elderly do not live nearby, and are working hard to maintain their own lifestyle and support their children. The beauty of the current plan is that it requires minimal paperwork on the part of the sick beneficiary and with any supplemental plan like the affordable AARP one, there becomes no cost whatsoever.
As an example of the challenges that Ryan's plan could lead to, Bush's boon to the pharmaceutical companies, known as Part D, is no easy thing to manage. My father couldn't fathom or read it in his last years, and since he took no drugs of consequence except during Medicare covered hospital stays, 550 miles away I did not pick up the challenge. My wife's parents have differing solutions, her father has the plan that must be tediously revisited every year by her and her mother may not because of guardianship and sibling issues that are unclear.
There are ways to make Medicare and Medicaid more efficient. With today's technology there should be ways to cut out the significant graft and mismanagement involved with the plans. There are likely intelligent ways to fund the younger generation's health costs if social security was once again separated from useable government funds, reversing a Clinton move that made him look good but, like AMT, is still a hangover from his governance.
Ryan's plan is flawed beyond belief. Let's let our sick, crippled, and senile folks make a free market work???
I'll agree with the consensus that confronting spending issues and the promises of the past is a worthwhile cause. Ryan, unfortunately, has bent over for every hocus pocus belief of what are called Republicans these days.
Privatizing Medicare is such a terrible idea. Elderly people are the least empowered, mentally and physically, to make the choice Ryan envisions that would make a free market solution work. In a broad sense, the responsible sons, daughters, and relatives for the elderly do not live nearby, and are working hard to maintain their own lifestyle and support their children. The beauty of the current plan is that it requires minimal paperwork on the part of the sick beneficiary and with any supplemental plan like the affordable AARP one, there becomes no cost whatsoever.
As an example of the challenges that Ryan's plan could lead to, Bush's boon to the pharmaceutical companies, known as Part D, is no easy thing to manage. My father couldn't fathom or read it in his last years, and since he took no drugs of consequence except during Medicare covered hospital stays, 550 miles away I did not pick up the challenge. My wife's parents have differing solutions, her father has the plan that must be tediously revisited every year by her and her mother may not because of guardianship and sibling issues that are unclear.
There are ways to make Medicare and Medicaid more efficient. With today's technology there should be ways to cut out the significant graft and mismanagement involved with the plans. There are likely intelligent ways to fund the younger generation's health costs if social security was once again separated from useable government funds, reversing a Clinton move that made him look good but, like AMT, is still a hangover from his governance.
Ryan's plan is flawed beyond belief. Let's let our sick, crippled, and senile folks make a free market work???
posted by John Borden at 3:58 PM
1 Comments:
At least Ryan's laying out an agenda that addresses the problem, however flawed, political, and shallow. Let the serious discussions begin.
Post a Comment
<< Home