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Article: End insurance advantage.(Editorials)(Taxpayer subsidizing Medicare Advantage plans)(Editorial)
- Article from:
- The Register Guard (Eugene, OR)
- Article date:
- December 15, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 The Register Guard. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: The Register-Guard
It's nearly impossible to remove the ideological conflict from the debate over Medicare Advantage plans. Republicans believe privatizing big chunks of Medicare would increase efficiency and cut costs. Democrats believe privatization would create confusion and siphon resources from one of the government's most important health care programs.
So let the debate continue, but remove the excessive taxpayer subsidies that cost Medicare 13 percent more on average for private Medicare Advantage plans than the same services would cost in the traditional Medicare fee-for-service program.
The government spends $94 billion a year ...