Fix Medicare now to avoid breakdown

By Congressman Jim Gerlach, guest columnist

When the check-engine light comes on in our cars or we hear a loud rattle under the hood, most of us understand that the responsible thing to do is head to a mechanic to diagnose and repair the problem.

Too often ignoring the warning light, or hoping the odd noise just goes away, leads to bigger problems and more costly repairs.

Yet despite clear evidence that Medicare is leaking oil financially, many in Washington refuse to pull into the garage to honestly assess what repairs are needed to keep the program running for current retirees and generations to come.

Last year, the Medicare Trustees believed the program’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund would run dry by 2029.

In just one year, their outlook dimmed considerably.

The Trustees now estimate the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund will be gone by 2024 — five years faster than last year’s projection.

Still don’t see the steam spewing from Medicare’s radiator?

The Congressional Budget Office is even more pessimistic, estimating the Medicare cash runs out in just nine years.

Yet another group of number-crunching experts at the American Academy of Actuaries highlighted some sobering figures.

Eliminating the deficit Medicare is projected to run over the next 75 years would require immediately raising the Medicare payroll tax on employers and workers by 24 percent, slashing benefits of Medicare beneficiaries by 17 percent, or a combination of both unpleasant options.

The Academy’s Medicare Steering Committee urged swift action to guarantee the program remains viable.

“The sooner such corrective measures are enacted, the more flexible the approach and the more gradual the implementation can be,” the Steering Committee stated. “Failure to act now will necessitate far more drastic actions later.”

Despite some pretty outrageous rhetoric and political posturing lately, nobody in Congress wants to ditch Medicare in a junkyard.

We have made commitments to current retirees and folks closest to retirement age.

Those commitments will be kept. No one 55 or older will see any change in their Medicare benefits or eligibility for benefits.

Medicare would not be turned into a voucher system under a Republican proposal known as “The Path to Prosperity” sponsored by Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.

Under that plan, which the House passed in April, Medicare spending will increase each year.

For those 54 and under, Medicare would be strengthened and preserved by giving retires the option of choosing from a menu of government-supported and subsidized plans similar to those offered to current

Members of Congress and federal employees.

For those retiring after 2022, the plan would allow them to choose their Medicare provider. That provider, not individual retirees, would receive premium support payments from the federal government.

Compare those proposals to the ones looming when the federal health care law, often referred to as Obamacare, is fully implemented.

Under the plan that President Obama enacted and most Democrats in Congress voted for, $500 billion will be slashed from the popular Medicare Advantage program. That’s a program that pays for eye exams, dental visits and other services not covered under traditional Medicare plans.

Further, the $2.4 trillion federal health care law championed by Congressional Democrats and the President gives unprecedented power to an un-elected 15-member panel, which will set benefit levels and determine whether treatments are too costly.

These are the same folks who are now orchestrating an aggressive “Mediscare” campaign to distort the Ryan plan. Talk about chutzpah.

So would the House Republicans’ plan to preserve Medicare terminate the program as political opponents suggest?

That’s about as ludicrous as arguing that fixing a flat tire on a Lamborghini transforms it into a Prius.

Bottom line: let’s stop the scare tactics and attacks on those proposing thoughtful solutions and seeking to have a fact-based debate.

And let’s start working on real solutions to strengthen and protect Medicare.

Medicare needs a tune up before it suffers a catastrophic breakdown and leaves our grandchildren and future retirees stranded.

Read more here: http://pottsmerc.com/articles/2011/06/12/opinion/srv0000012003745.txt?viewmode=fullstory