Republican Senators Richard Burr and Tom Coburn today unveiled their plan for fixing Medicare, the government-run health care program for seniors that faces financial challenges in the future.
The plan would offer seniors, starting in 2016, the choice to stick with government-run fee-for-service program, or choose health insurance policies offered by private companies which would bid for the right to participate in the Medicare program.
It also proposes a broad range of other cost-saving measures.
“We made a promise to our seniors that Medicare will be there when they need it most, but the program as it currently stands is broken,” Burr said in a statement. “We have a moral obligation to our parents, children, and all Americans to take steps now to save Medicare. The Medicare program in its current form is unsustainable, and we have an obligation and opportunity to improve it for our nation's seniors within the next few years.”
The Seniors' Choice Act would according to Burr:
Provide a maximum-out-of-pocket protection, so that a senior would not have to pay more than $7,500 per year in medical expenses.
Would increase cost-sharing for wealthier citizens, so that the maximum-out-pocket expenses for a couple making between $170,000 and $214,000 per year would be $12,500.
Require millionaires on Medicare to pay full premiums.
Gradually raise the age of eligibility for participating in Medicare by two months for each year until the ge reaches 67 starting with people born in 1949.
Gradually increase the premiums on Medicare by an average of 3 percent each year beginning in 2013 so that a nine percent increase is accomplished by 2013.
