Health reform, that is. Or it could be.
President Obama's effots to sell lawmakers and the American public on the merits of his proposals have been hamstrung by his preference for a big-government solution to the nation’s healthcare woes. While it’s true that reform is needed, there’s no need to completely remake the health sector. Instead, the president should borrow from more hands-off reforms, like Medicare Part D, which have been both successful and popular in the past.
A recent survey revealed that 92 percent of beneficiaries were satisfied with their drug coverage in 2008. And, at last tally, Part D was costing about 30 percent less than initial budget projections. The program’s popularity as well as its cost-effectiveness can be attributed in large part to its use of the private-sector competition.
Part D allows Medicare participants to choose from a variety of government-subsidized yet privately-administered drug plans. Seniors get to choose from a number of plans and decide for themselves which one best suits them. Meanwhile, insurers must compete to offer high-quality plans at reasonable prices.
But does Part D really work? The numbers speak for themselves: in 2004 nearly one in four seniors lacked drug coverage. By 2006, when Part D took effect, that statistic dropped to seven percent.
Democratic lawmakers could use this success as a roadmap for expanding coverage while avoiding the kind of drastic government intervention that inspired such rancor in opponents of the public option.
In other words, create a program that allows insurers to compete to offer those 8-16 million chronically uninsured Americans the best plan. The government could then provide subsidies to make that plan even more affordable. This would by no means be easy to implement. But it wouldn’t be revolutionary either, since the policy’s basic framework has already proven to work well.
President Obama is in desperate need of fiscally responsible healthcare reform ideas. A Part D-like insurance program might be exactly what he’s looking for.
For more on this, see a new article in Reuters' "Great Debate" series here.
President Obama's effots to sell lawmakers and the American public on the merits of his proposals have been hamstrung by his preference for a big-government solution to the nation’s healthcare woes. While it’s true that reform is needed, there’s no need to completely remake the health sector. Instead, the president should borrow from more hands-off reforms, like Medicare Part D, which have been both successful and popular in the past.
A recent survey revealed that 92 percent of beneficiaries were satisfied with their drug coverage in 2008. And, at last tally, Part D was costing about 30 percent less than initial budget projections. The program’s popularity as well as its cost-effectiveness can be attributed in large part to its use of the private-sector competition.
Part D allows Medicare participants to choose from a variety of government-subsidized yet privately-administered drug plans. Seniors get to choose from a number of plans and decide for themselves which one best suits them. Meanwhile, insurers must compete to offer high-quality plans at reasonable prices.
But does Part D really work? The numbers speak for themselves: in 2004 nearly one in four seniors lacked drug coverage. By 2006, when Part D took effect, that statistic dropped to seven percent.
Democratic lawmakers could use this success as a roadmap for expanding coverage while avoiding the kind of drastic government intervention that inspired such rancor in opponents of the public option.
In other words, create a program that allows insurers to compete to offer those 8-16 million chronically uninsured Americans the best plan. The government could then provide subsidies to make that plan even more affordable. This would by no means be easy to implement. But it wouldn’t be revolutionary either, since the policy’s basic framework has already proven to work well.
President Obama is in desperate need of fiscally responsible healthcare reform ideas. A Part D-like insurance program might be exactly what he’s looking for.
For more on this, see a new article in Reuters' "Great Debate" series here.
