Friday, August 21, 2009

Blast from the past: The Repubs did try their hand at Health Care reform in 1995


Gingrich:"Think about a party whose last stand is to frighten 85-year-olds, and you'll understand how totally morally bankrupt the modern Democratic Party is."

G.O.P. ANNOUNCES PLAN TO OVERHAUL MEDICARE SYSTEM

By ROBERT PEAR

Published: Friday, September 15, 1995

House Republican leaders unveiled their proposal to redesign Medicare today,but it was surprisingly short on details and had none of the expectedfinancial incentives for elderly people to join health maintenanceorganizations or other private health plans.

The package is supposed to cut projected Medicare spending by $270 billion,or 14 percent, over the next seven years, and Republicans had hoped toachieve much of the savings through greater use of H.M.O.'s and other formsof managed care.

They said affluent beneficiaries should pay much higher premiums, but theyacknowledged that they were still struggling to achieve the savings theyneed to meet their self-imposed goal.
Continue reading »

No comments: