Biden’s Medicare Malarkey
“Who [do] you believe, the AMA, me, a guy who’s fought his whole life for this, or somebody who would actually put in motion a plan that knowingly cut – added $6,400 a year more to the cost of Medicare?”
- Vice President Biden, speaking in last Wednesday’s debate
“The Council recommends that the AMA support transitioning Medicare to a defined contribution program that would enable beneficiaries to purchase coverage of their choice through a Medicare exchange of competing health insurance plans….
“Moving Medicare to a defined contribution program would expand patient choice…A defined contribution system would allow private insurers the freedom to design a range of plans that meet patient demand….
“A defined contribution system is likely to result in lower rates of health care spending growth, since insurers would be competing on price as well as benefit design, and would be directly accountable to patient demand for high-value, high-quality services….
“The Council firmly believes that implementing a defined contribution system, with strong regulatory protections for patients, is a responsible and feasible approach to strengthening the Medicare program.”
- Report of the American Medical Association’s Council on Medical Service, issued last Friday