Dean Baker & CBO: Paul Ryan's plan transfers trillions from citizens to private insurers

[spooky3]

and the media are strangely silent.

snip..."However most of the additional burden projected for retirees is not the result of cost-shifting from the government. The vast majority of the additional burden that the CBO projected for retirees comes from the higher cost of private insurance compared with the government-run Medicare system. The additional cost as a result of adopting Ryan's privatised system is more than $30tn over Medicare's 75-year planning horizon.

To put this in perspective, CBO's projected increase in the cost of buying Medicare-equivalent insurance policies through the private sector is roughly six times the size of the projected social security shortfall. The projected shortfall in social security has sent thousands of politicians screaming about devastating burden on our children. How, then, should we describe something that is six times as large as this "devastating burden", a sum that is just under $100,000 for every man, woman and child in the country?

The CBO analysis should have led every budget reporter in the country to point out the enormous cost savings that Medicare provides relative to private insurers. They should have been pointing out that the country will face an enormous burden from exploding healthcare costs if it does not fix its healthcare system. And that the Medicare system is an important part of the solution.

However, it seems that no budget reporters – not a single reporter at the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal or any other major news outlet – picked up on this central point in the analysis from the CBO. Instead, they talked about the plan as a question of whether people preferred a government guarantee or would rather have individuals rely on themselves and the market to obtain healthcare in their old age. The $30tn price tag – in the form of added waste – was altogether missing in the reporting."

snip

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/26/healthcare-congress

Democrats should be POUNDING this message home.

I can't believe more people didn't see this thread on DU previously:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x957525

[cliffordu]

1. K&R

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