GOP's Medicare plans run into wall in the Senate

[mystery-ak]

 GOP's Medicare plans run into wall in the Senate

Top Republicans express reluctance to push forward on partially privatizing health care for seniors.

By Jennifer Haberkorn and Adam Cancryn

12/02/16 05:06 AM EST

The GOP’s dream of privatizing parts of Medicare is running up against resistance among Senate Republicans.

Interviews with more than a dozen GOP lawmakers reveal they’re not planning to pursue big changes to the popular health care program for seniors — at least not in the first year of the Trump administration.

That hesitation starts with the chairman who would lead any overhaul in the Senate.

“We’ll have to see,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), head of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicare. “We’re going to have a whole new look at a lot of things. … It depends on what it is. It depends on how it is written. It depends on what it would do.”

more
http://www.politico.com/story/2016/12/republicans-medicare-overhaul-232087

[Jazzhead]

Politics is the art of the possible.   Addressing Medicare at this time - an enormously popular program - is probably a foolish idea.   Let's first get the economy rolling - corporate tax cuts and regulatory relief to spur growth and the availability of credit,  and then tackle the unwinding of the Affordable Care Act.  The stage is set for the GOP to gain more effective control of the Senate in two years.  Let's get the popular stuff done first, and save the real heavy lifting for later.   

[HonestJohn]

The only way I'd accept vouchers for health care as a replacement for Medicare would be if the vouchers kept pace with the rate of inflation found in the insurance industry.

*NOT* keeping pace with the overall national inflation rate, as is currently proposed.

[GtHawk]

The only way I'd accept vouchers for health care as a replacement for Medicare would be if the vouchers kept pace with the rate of inflation found in the insurance industry.

*NOT* keeping pace with the overall national inflation rate, as is currently proposed.

I'm really tired of this carp, the only way we should accept these idiots jacking around with our health care is if they are required to use the exact same program they foist on us.