Premium Support in Medicare: What It Is and What It Isn’t

Kathryn Nix / April 06, 2011

Yesterday, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R–WI) unveiled his budget proposal for fiscal year 2012. The transformative proposal would reverse the current trajectory of out-of-control federal spending largely due to the inclusion of a bold proposal to reform the currently unsustainable Medicare program.

Ryan’s approach would change the way the federal government provides for the medical needs of seniors by moving the program to a “premium support” system. Rather than paying directly for medical services, premium support would enable the government to make contributions to the cost of a health plan chosen by the individual themselves from a selection of plans.

Already, mudslinging from the left is in overdrive. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D–MI) said Ryan’s proposal was “pulling the rug out from under seniors,” while House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D–CA) called it “a path to poverty for American’s seniors and children.” (more…)