Campaign rhetoric, we’re led to believe, can be hard to sort out. If Paul Ryan says his budget plan protects Medicare and the Democrats say it “ends” it, what should we believe? Those are the kinds of questions journalism is supposed to answer.
Which is why ABC World News‘ August 14 “Reality Check” on Medicare was such a failure.
Actually, the fact that it wasn’t very good wasn’t a total shocker. That was to be expected as soon as you heard Diane Sawyer said this:
So we asked ABC‘s Jon Karl for a reality check on the plan and what it would change for each of us.
Jonathan Karl is the most successful product of the Collegiate Network, a right-wing outfit that aims to plant conservative ideologues in influential news outlets. The project would have been thrilled with his lead:
The first thing you need to know about the Ryan plan is this: It does not apply to anybody who is now 55 years old or older. Today’s seniors stay in the current system.
Not really. The Ryan budget repeals the Affordable Care Act; part of that law filled in the so-called “doughnut hole” in prescription drug coverage, which saves seniors money. According to Paul N. Van de Water of the Center on Budget & Policy Priorities (3/28/12), “5 million Medicare beneficiaries have saved more than $3.2 billion, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).”
So under the Ryan plan many would pay more for medicine. That’s a change.
The biggest problem with the Ryan plan, though, is the shift from Medicare’s single-payer structure to a voucher scheme, where the government would provide seniors with money to buy a private insurance plan.
Critics of the Ryan plan–from progressive economists to the Congressional Budget Office–argue that the amount of the voucher won’t actually cover the cost of healthcare, meaning that people will have to pay the difference themselves.
Karl doesn’t ignore that, saying that “Ryan believes costs will come down because insurance companies will have to compete to get your Medicare dollars. That’s possible. But there’s no guarantee.”
Not only is there no guarantee, there’s little reason to believe this will happen in the real world.
But Karl spends more time on a rather far-fetched idea: Instead of costing you money, you could actually turn a profit:
For any plan that costs over $15,000, you pay the difference. If your plan costs less, you get cash back.
For example, if the plan you choose costs $14,000, you’ll get a check in the mail for $1,000.
Well now that sounds pretty promising, right? It’s not at all clear why Karl is even presenting this scenario. As Paul Krugman noted (New York Times, 6/5/11)
A Congressional Budget Office analysis found that to get coverage equivalent to what they have now, older Americans would have to pay vastly more out of pocket under the Paul Ryan plan than they would if Medicare as we know it was preserved. Based on the budget office estimates, the typical senior would end up paying around $6,000 more out of pocket in the plan’s first year of operation.
If that’s what the CBO estimates the typical senior will experience under the Ryan plan, why is Karl touting the plan as a potential source of income for seniors? ABC’s reality check needs a reality check.
I’m rather disappointed with the graphic.
Where’s the chibi animation, with an older couple dancing a jig and waving their windfall check over their heads?
Missed agitprop opp, ABC.
Yeah, DL – I think JK was trying to look conservative & credible & ‘wonkish’ in his pic, with some semblance of gravitas, but just writing “check for $1,000” descends into pathetically obvious. He didn’t even go for the lotto-winner-size ‘check’ that’s something like 3′ x 7′ – – he really would’ve raked-in the rubes with THAT…
The redistribution of wealth means destruction of the middle class & increasing poverty in America, while mentally & morally sick individuals run the world’s monopolies, banks, & governments at a greater profit for themselves. They are Egomaniacs pretending through their control of the mass media that they care about people & benefitting American public. Lies about the Ryan Plan not affecting healthcare for the elderly, etc. is just one example. We now know who “owns” ABC.
Ha ha! And ABC is supposed to the be most ‘liberal’ of the big three networks…
There is no ‘liberal’ network! Even MSNBC fills their reports with words and phrases that are part of the conservative framing used so adeptly by the Republicans. When one speaks using the words of his opponent he automatically makes a concession to that opponent.
Ryan’s plan sounds like a shell game to me. With rising costs of insurance and medical care, any magic number they put on a voucher today will be meaningless tomorrow. The sane thing to do about medicare and any form of assistance is to attack the problem from the top, not attack the people who need care. Along with already selling out by subsidizing insurance companies (what else would you call the Advantage Plans?) 18% of our GDP goes to medical care. In Japan it’s only 9%, Taiwan’s is close and outside the US most industrialized nations spend less that 15%. One needs to ask why. The answer lies in the lobbies who support the candidates who will give them the most tax breaks and provide their bottom line with the most earnings. And who gets to help them earn more? Anyone who is silly enough to vote for those who come up with plans that work against their best interests.
“Pretty boy” Paul Ryan’s economic plan will be a disaster for the middle class and the poor.
but just writing “check for $1,000” descends into pathetically obvious. – Em
Yes, but since Glen Beck(er Head) has shown us that black=white on his magic white board, everyone now assumes that “what is written is so; because they couldn’t write it unless it was”.
Too much of this goes back the freaking “Flip-Chart” flippers of the boardrooms, who show us all ‘the truth’ on the dippy flip chart. The write a number and instantly it becomes ‘the truth’.
I am beginning to think that somewhere in our plumbing systems of america, we still have too much lead.
The “private insurance industry” rakes about 20% of every dollar spent on, so called, health care. Medicare’s administrative costs are about 3%. No mystery why the insurance company shills in congress want to ‘privatize’ medicare.
The real underlying issue is, why are Americans so sickly? If we actually spent our resources on maintaining health our overall medical costs would plummet.
Either Jonathan Karl is a moron, or he has nothing but contempt for the folks he thinks he’s talking to. He might just be a true believer–a coupling of staggering naivete and witless earnestness. Real bad, no matter what.
Bottom line ladies and gents is that Obama has been told by his people that medicare will be broke in 12 years,bringing everything down with it.His plan??????Nothing.Nadda.He is out of ideas for “hope and change”So if you want to discuss how to take Ryans PLAN- and make it work Im with you.Come November that or something like it will be on Mitts table.So lets roll up our sleeves,pour some java,and get down to it.No closed door meetings where everyone is excluded ,and Mitt says “hey remember I won”(Obamas famous retort to shutting out the Rs).This unqualified bunch will soon be searching for jobs.I recommend a starting position in any real job.Something most of them have never held.
I do not understand how it is so difficult to report that Ryan converts medicare to a voucher plan that would not pay for enough coverage, while Obama has shifted costs to end the doughnut hole and expand coverage, but there is no guarantee that his plan will bring about the cost savings needed to bring health care costs under control.
I think we really need to experience Ryan’s plan to destroy Medicare before we can truly appreciate it, tishado.
I did read about the $8,000 voucher idea, and what does that buy?
michael e., you said you worked in health care, so what does a senior get for $8,000?
If they get that voucher but then have no other money, what are they suppposed to do…die?
To the comment about 20% – prior to the inception of Obamacare, the insurance companies have been taking more than 20%. Obamacare limits them all to 20%. At least that’s what I understand. And, yes, Medicare costs to administer are only 3% – a bargain. But, you know, we do have to keep those corporate bosses well fed.
Well gloriana as I understand it the basis to Ryans plan in the simplest form is this…..If you want to stay on Medicare you can.If you move to other choices government will pay the balance .You will have a choice to do as you want.With that will come the competition that always brings prices down.With that will come savings.Massive savings.Unfortunately for the left Ryan is not dead.He will actually explain his program before all America.Obama will have to admit under his do nothing idea it will be gone in 12 years.
Tim says he will destroy Medicare.We don’t know that at all.We feel it will save it.We do know under Obamas plan it will as I said be gone in 12 years.
Elizabeth under Obama care the insurance companies wont have to worry about any percentage.They will be gone.That is the underlying plan to Obama care.Single payer with government in charge of everyones health.
michael e.:
Why do you believe that competition always brings things down?
We have lots of oil companies competing and they just seem to gaggle together and raise prices.
There are also lots of health care corporations and I don’t think anyone has seen rates go down, even though they are competing against each other.
Once you did write that you worked in health care, so really what would $8000 buy for a year of care? How much does one emergency room visit ( on average ) cost? If too many can’t afford any care what does this mean for the future of the nation?
The thing that I think many in Congress forget is that health care for all is really a public health issue, which really translates into a national security issue, as in remembering things like the pandemic of 1918.
Also remembering that things like cholera come from contaminated water, or sick NATO soldiers. An entire island went down because of that! Our infrastructure has lots of problems! Do we really have clean water for public consumption?
Don’t forget too all the havoc that Typhoid Mary brought!
And too, didn’t Napoleon really lose because of typhus?
You might be thinking that those things are in the past, but with many parents refusing vacinations for their kids all kinds of disease will return.
Why are TB and whooping cough returning and West Nile virus arriving?
I suppose another plague would certainly kill off enough in the world to solve the unemployment problem, but what kind of a world is that? Sadly, it’s the kind of world where even huge amounts of money can’t save the rich from dying from sickness either.
I’m sorry but it seems that Mr. Ryan’s health care budget is really kicking the corpse down the road.
Sorry, for the length of this but again, what does $8000 buy for a year?
Well Gloriana first understand that both sides understand there is a lot wrong with our system though all in all it is the best in the world.This is not an argument other than who has the ideas to fix it.The right sat on its ass while the left shoved through a stupid stupid plan.This is a group so far unqualified to present a budget four years in.Yet they rammed a plan through that Palosi said “we wont understand it until after it is implemented”or words to that effect.Children playing with bloody flamethrowers.Out of their depth AND out of their minds.And I think this idea that Ryans plan gives 8000 dollars, then sends seniors on their way is something you are mistaken on.I think if you read his plan,and listen to him you will see the coverage is unchanged other than you have a choice now.But lets get to competition.In my area there are 7 main healthcare insurance carriers I can choose from.Under Obama there will soon be one.Yet in this country there are thousands.Can you not see that if competition were opened up to everyone- it would of course drive prices down?Many doctors simply will soon opt out of all insurance.Cash on the barrel head.Lets look at lasik eye.When it began Doctors ducked insurance.People screamed the poor would be the ones to loose out.Soon a bidding war started.More doctors were trained ,and went into it.Now it is so cheap it is ridiculous.A bloody assembly line it is now.Put insurance into it early- it would be 5x more expensive.And less well run.That is the nature of the beast.Same with drug companies.
Oh, michael e.:
I think you are wrong about competition bringing prices down. I think it brings wages down now because so many are desperate for jobs, but how does that help a country?
It seems that medicare has worked for the seniors, so why wouldn’t it work for everyone?
I see some in congress even trying to cut medical care for veterans, which is really peculiar because those people all know how to shoot straight and to make all kinds of interesting explosive devices. Are some in Congress not aware of this?
Really, when people have nothing to lose, they do act on this. If people can’t afford medical care, they might have to result to the actions of that Denzel Washington movie where he has to take over a hospital to save his son! I know it was a movie, but desperate times create desperate actions, especially if soldiers who fight for their country are told upon returning that their lives count for nothing.
I agree with you that there is a lot wrong with the system, because no system is perfect, but I really can’t believe that we are the best in the world! I think that the system on paper looks great, but it seems that many have taken that original parchment and put it on a wkikpedia file where corporations and politicians, and the military are editing the information so quickly that the people can’t keep up. : (
p.s. I am really annoyed with you because I keep asking what an $8000 a year voucher would get and you are not answering. I did read that information from Mr. Ryan. If you work in health care you must have some idea, so please share what you know.
Gloriana I am saying to you that you are reading a certain spin on the 8000 dollar voucher.And that spin is simply incorrect.You are going to have to wait, or dig a bit,or let Ryan answer those questions i think to your satisfaction.Certainly he will be asked that question since it is already a liberal urban legend as it were.And remember the great thing about his plan is that if Mitt accepts some of it…..it will go through a new review and opinion process.Unlike the Obama “hey i won,you lost statement.
As far as competition…in the real world it works.In a socialist world it is considered evil.See we cant pay union costs even though the majority of stimulus went that way.We payed oodles to pay off their pensions.Medicare is great…..it just is not funded.These things must be put on a paying basis.And Socialism problem outside market forces is always the same.Sooner or later you run out of other folks money.No matter how much is spent to support a rickety bridge…..sooner or later it collapses.Even if Folks used the bridge and loved the bridge for 100 years.We want to fund these things.Keeping that AND personal freedom intact.Your side wants to print and borrow any amount for a short time more.They know in twelve years it is all gone.Yet no plan.Well one plan.And entire country on the dole, and a huge all powerful FED.And they lead you along with a carrot and a stick.Ryan simply wants to offer people options.Remember that pre Obama word?????Options?Under Obama you have one option.His way….. or no way.Those options will be used by some,saving huge amounts.It will bring in competition, breaking up the government hold on keeping prices high.And believe me Gloriana ,nothing the government is involved in ever costs less due to that involvement.It always always always skyrockets cost.Choice is gonna be the key word here.The cars built by and for the special interest groups under the auspices of government involvement are a disaster.Costly.Badly made.Yet if they forced you to buy one…or better yet gave you one somebody else paid for………poof total success.This is the madness on the left.Give people a choice and we see what happens.These crappy ass cars die on the vein.
LOL! michael e. : :)
You still have never answered my question! Mr. Ryan’s $8000 voucher is not an urban legend, because he said it, although he is entitled to change his mind and reframe that, but how can you deny what the man said?
It is hard to believe that Mr. Ryan came from the same state as La Follette, and it is so sad to see that many are blaming unions and the poor for the economy’s problems. Between an unregulated Wall St. and a military industrial complex that sucks up money, a republic doesn’t have much of a chance.
Although, I do believe that history repeats itself, and even the 30 tyrants of Sparta didn’t hold Athens forever. It just isn’t very comforting to be living through that transition where the State is more important than those that live within it. Maybe the oft printed Constitution made a spelling error, and it’s really WEE the People, and we’re finding that out now. : (
Gloriana there are a lot of pieces out there the 8000 voucher or the paid out government help( up to 39%)for transitioning to better, more cost efficient healthcare for anyone who CHOOSES it.See it is a choice.One you don’t have under Obamacare.And Ryan has said he will crunch numbers with anyone right or left.He is willing to change any part.Very different again from Obama and Pelosi.And remember HE is not running for president.Mitt is.Where is the VPs plan?Or Obamas plan?No plan Gloriana.No plan and no budget.Just Obama care.A plam ballooning out of any dream of solvency.A plan promised at 800 billion.Now up to 2.7 trillion even before implementation.A plan shoved down the house and senates throat ,with threats and pay offs.A plan squeaked past the supreme court only when it was changed to a tax.A plan most Americans don’t want.
As far as unions go- I don’t blame them for getting a great majority of stim money to pay for their pensions.I blame the government.I want unions to compete.Government wants to subsidize them with other peoples money.I want the poor to become the middle class.And the middle class to become the wealthy.The government wants to subsidize them to stay where they are.A modern plantation owner system.Of course we need an enemy.So that will be anyone who has squeaked out of the plantation system and is not under its thumb(the rich).And why are you mad at the so called military industrial complex?Just another extension of government ownership.Creating jobs out of the government tax base.With one difference…..It IS the governments job to prepare for the proper defense and protection of it populace.One of the very few jobs the constitution empowers them with.As far as wall street???????Wall street is an investment engine under the final control of its investors.I invest.I pull money in and out at MY discretion.(Very different from government taxation)My call.Win or loose.Wall street hedges its money.But it is still win or loose.If it does not break the laws of security and exchange….what in the hell IS YOUR PROBLEM?You seem to say that even IF they follow the laws that they are guilty if(ready for this)……they succeed and make money.The liberal mantra in one sentence.
Some pseudo-people’s arrogance knows no bounds: I give you James ONON [sic] above. He wants to pretend that so-called leaders like Lawrence Summers, Robert Rubin, Phil Gramm and the entire plague running loose in Washington and on K Street are somehow morally superior to whomever it is he’s referring to? Newsflash moron: the real wealth distrubtion, that has been occurring at least since President Ronnie Raygun Parkinson Haze, is from the many to the few. You know, the class warfare engaged in by your class, subtly, constantly. The pain you engender is one thing. Some of us are strong. But that your humanity and psychological character could be so vacuous and bankrupt, that is…not quite sure, ugly at the very least.
Well, you could just take the $15k, not buy any insurance, never get sick, and you’d be $15k ahead. Wouldn’t that be just dandy?