Statement: Robert Greenstein On The New Report from the Medicare Trustees

Publication Date: April 2007

Publisher: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Robert Greenstein

Research Area: Health

Keywords: Economic projections; Health care costs; Health insurance; Senior citizen

Type: Report

Abstract:

MedPAC, Congress’s official advisor on Medicare finances, has recommended that Medicare pay private insurers the same amount per beneficiary as it pays to serve people under the regular Medicare program — as opposed to overpaying the private insurers by an average of 12 percent, as it now does.  MedPAC’s recommendation to “level the playing field” would strengthen Medicare’s finances, move back the date of insolvency, and reduce the size of the benefit cuts or tax increases that ultimately are likely to be needed to shore up the program’s finances.