Perspective               

Bush's $158 Billion Proposal: A Lose-Lose Proposition

History and recent experience suggest that Governor George W. Bush's plan which relies heavily on private insurance companies and HMOs to deliver Medicare benefits is a lose-lose proposition. Older and disabled Americans lose because they want the low premiums, guaranteed benefits and choice of doctors that only traditional Medicare offers them. Private insurers have never provided them with coverage they could count on. Indeed, before Medicare was enacted, half of our nation's seniors could not get health insurance. It was either unavailable or unaffordable. That's why Medicare was started in 1965. And, today, even with huge government subsidies, HMOs have raised premiums, cut benefits, and dropped coverage for more than 1.7 million people with Medicare.

Taxpayers also lose because Governor Bush's plan will cost substantially more than traditional Medicare -- unless Governor Bush expects people with Medicare to spend more for their health care than they already do. A just-released U.S. General Accounting Office study concludes that in 1998 alone, taxpayers spent $3.2 billion more on people enrolled in Medicare HMOs than if they had remained in traditional Medicare.

In short, the Bush proposal has already been tried and failed. Medicare is tried and true.

_________________________________