Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Republicans embrace ObamaCare, call it Ryan-Rivlin

Ezra Klein explains Ryan-Rivlin Medicare Reform.

"If you're looking for a description of the Ryan/Rivlin Medicare reforms that have gained so many admirers on the right, Matt Yglesias has a good write-up of the idea. But I'd add another way of explaining the proposal: The Ryan-Rivlin plan basically turns Medicare into Obamacare. And in that context, Republicans love the idea behind ObamaCare and think it'll save lots of money.

Under the Ryan-Rivlin plan, the current Medicare program is completely dissolved and replaced by a new Medicare program that 'would provide a payment – based on what the average annual per-capita expenditure is in 2021 – to purchase health insurance.' You'd get the health insurance from a 'Medicare Exchange', and 'health plans which choose to participate in the Medicare Exchange must agree to offer insurance to all Medicare beneficiaries, thereby preventing cherry picking and ensuring that Medicare’s sickest and highest cost beneficiaries receive coverage.' Sound familiar?"

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