Just What Is the Ryan Medicare Plan?

OK - Just What Is the Ryan Medicare Plan?

“ As proposed, the Ryan Medicare plan resembles the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP).  In the FEHBP model the government provides a set financial contribution each year.  Employees and retirees have a variety of options, including catastrophic coverage plans with high deductibles, health maintenance organizations, and high-end plans with many choices of doctors and other providers.  Everyone has a choice of at least 10 fee-for-service plans, but the exact number varies by where an enrollee lives. The Ryan plan also resembles the health insurance model developed over the years in Germany.  Under the German system, seniors choose insurance coverage from among a list of approved, competing nongovernmental "sickness funds" (Krankenkassen).  Those insurers, in turn, pay for healthcare provided by private physicians and hospitals with beneficiaries and the government each paying a share of healthcare premiums. A major difference between the two plans, however, is that Ryan Medicare provides a fixed payment toward insurance premium reimbursement which increases with the cost of living as measured by the general consumer price index (CPI).  To the extent that healthcare costs exceed the CPI, that excess must be borne by the individual. [American Thinker - What Is the Ryan Medicare Plan?] ” One big reason why Democrats are so easily able to demagogue the health-care issue is,  I think, that just trying to read this Medicare synopsis (none of which I included above) is so goddamn boring. It's like reading all the fine print on the tax form booklet we used to get every January.  But, try anyway. You'll be health-care maven of your Mahjong club.