Source: Tierney Sneed, Talking Points Memo, May 12, 2017
House Speaker Paul Ryan hasn’t let go of his cherished idea of privatizing Medicare and in an interview with a local Wisconsin radio station Friday, suggested that a blueprint for overhauling Medicare would advance in the Budget Committee again this year. … Ryan has released various versions of his so-called “Path to Prosperity” budget blueprint that have included a privatization of Medicare. The general idea he has promoted is turning Medicare into a so-called “premium support” system — i.e. a voucher system — in which seniors would get a set amount of money to shop around for private health care plans. Earlier versions of his proposal would have lead to a phase-out of Medicare altogether. Some experts have argued that even the most recent iteration of his blueprint, which ostensibly leaves some form of traditional Medicare available, would eventually lead to its phase-out as well. … It’s not just Ryan that’s trying to make Medicare privatization happen. Trump’s Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, a former House member with a reputation as a budget hawk, said last month that it was his “guess is the House will do either that or something similar to that.” …
Related:
Trumpcare Will Be A Gold Rush For Private Contractors
Source: Donald Cohen, Huffington Post, March 16, 2017
… What the bill would do to Medicaid, the health care program for poor, elderly, and disabled Americans, plays right into the hands of private contractors looking to score big on taxpayer money. By including Medicaid “block grants,” which is a fancy way of saying “cuts,” the bill would force states to slash costs. And when budgets are tight, corporations come calling, claiming they’ll do the work cheaper, better, and faster. But, whether it’s running private prisons or operating water utilities, their claims often ring hollow, especially when it comes to helping those on the margins of society. Just look at what happened to cash assistance for families with children, known as “TANF.” After the program was block granted in 1996, a cottage industry sprung up to squeeze profits from the limited pool of welfare funds. Within five years, over $1.5 billion in taxpayer dollars meant for poor families had gone to contractors like IBM and Lockheed Martin. By 2014, only 26 percent of TANF dollars were going to basic assistance for poor families. … Over 60 percent of nursing home residents and two in five kids in the U.S. rely on the program. It’s also the main public funding source for family planning, like contraceptive counseling and care, and screenings for sexually transmitted infections and cancer.
… The struggle to protect Medicaid, let alone expand it, will only get tougher. On Wednesday, the Senate confirmed Seema Verma, a private health care consultant, to lead the agency in charge of the program. Verma supports block grants and has helped a number of states, including Iowa, privatize their Medicaid programs. Less than a year in, Iowa’s privatized program is spinning into disaster for 600,000 poor, elderly, and disabled Iowans. If Trump wanted somebody who knows the corporate takeover of Medicaid in and out, he certainly found her. While helping Indiana overhaul its program, Verma was also on the payroll of one of the state’s largest Medicaid vendors, Hewlett-Packard. …
Senate confirms Trump’s Medicaid, Medicare pick
Source: The Hill, March 13, 2017
The Senate voted to clear Seema Verma to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services under President Trump. Verma was confirmed in a 55-43 vote Monday evening. She will now be dropped into the fight over how to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act and is expected to play a large role in any attempt to reform either Medicare or Medicaid. … Democrats largely said they opposed Verma’s nomination after trying unsuccessfully to pin her down on a number of policy issues during her confirmation hearing, including if or how she would reform the programs.
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