James Fallows finds the Ryan plan wanting in a lot of ways, not the least of which is the fact that Medicare spending is subject to the 80-20 rule like almost everything else. He quotes GoozNews:
Seniors and the poor account for over half of health care spending. Within those groups, 5 percent of the population accounts for 50 percent of health care costs; and 20 percent of the population accounts for about 80 percent. These costs come for the most part at times when economic incentives have no influence at all on medical decision-making: in medical crises; in treating chronic conditions; and, for most Medicare patients, in the last six months of life.That's absolutely right. You will likely transfer your entire estate to the health care system as you lie dying in a hospital bed, should Ryan's plan be instituted.That’s why a voucher program for Medicare, which will shift an increasing share of those inevitable costs onto the elderly themselves, can fairly be categorized as a 100 percent estate tax or death tax.
Not what you had in mind, is it?
Posted by Linkmeister at April 18, 2011 03:31 PM | TrackBack