The GOP's Fairy Tale Version of Proposed Healthcare Changes

I will admit at the outset that I believe that an advanced industrialized nation - especially one that claims to be Christian as per the Christianists - should provide some level of health care coverage to every citizen. In fact, pretty much every other advanced industrialize nation does so - as do many that xenophobic Americans like to look down upon. The USA stands largely alone in treating its citizens as disposable items. Now, the Congressional Republicans want to take steps backwards from the health care reforms of the last two years - which in my view went nowhere near far enough. In peddling their snake oil, the members of the GOP have even gone so far as to claim that their version of health care reform "It will be similar to a system “just like” what members of Congress have." Sounds good, but of course it's a lie. Like so much of what comes out of today's GOP. A story in the Washington Post fact checks the GOP claim and what it finds is not pretty. Here are some highlights:

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During the congressional recess, Ryan and other Republican lawmakers have been selling their proposal to restructure Medicare with what appears to be a poll-tested phrase: It will be similar to a system “just like” what members of Congress have. The phrase pops up in all sorts of news releases and interviews with members of Congress, as well as no less than five times in the budget plan crafted by Ryan.
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Republicans say they would preserve the current Medicare system for people who are currently 55 and older; the changes would only affect people who are younger. The current system, in place since the mid-1960s, is essentially a government-run health care program, with hospital and doctor fees paid by the government, though beneficiaries also pay premiums for some services as well as deductibles and coinsurance.
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The new system envisioned by Ryan would transform Medicare into a competitive market. Retirees would get from the government what Ryan calls “premium support” — a set payment adjusted to inflation — and then use that money to pick from a range of plans offered by insurance companies through what is termed a Medicare exchange.
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How does this system compare with what Congress gets? The federal plan provides lots of health-care options, with a range of about five to 15 plans for each enrollee, according to the Congressional Research Service. All of the health plans offer a standard package, but there are variations in what those plans pay for. In many ways, the federal plan works a lot like the run-of-the-mill employee-sponsored health insurance plan. The bulk of the costs are picked up by the employer — in this case, the government — with the employee contributing his or her share according to a set or negotiated rate.
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But the comparison begins to break down once you consider the premium support payments. Ryan would peg the premium support to the consumer price index, a broad gauge that has been rising more slowly than have health-care costs.
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The Congressional Budget Office, the nonpartisan arm of Congress, analyzed Ryan’s plan and estimated that, by 2030, the government would pay just 32 percent of the health-care costs, less than half of what it currently pays. The other 68 percent of the plan would have to be shouldered by the retiree.
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The CBO analysis also assumed that adding private insurance plans into the mix would raise administrative costs and would not keep medical inflation as low as traditional Medicare has done.
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The focus on “a system just like members of Congress and federal employees have” suggests that this would be something better than the typical employee plan. But it will not have a key feature of the current plan — a promise that the government will pick up 75 percent of the health-care tab. The reference to the health plan for members of Congress gives a false and misleading impression to ordinary people.
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Clearly, the Congressional Republicans are lying to the public - one thing they share with their Christianist masters is the belief that the Commandment against lying doesn't apply to them.