Not surprising. Do you remember the Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act (or similar name) in 1989? It provided catastrophic coverage for seniors and charged them a premium for it. I remember footage of an elderly woman chasing Rostenkowski (Ways and Means chairman at the time) down the street. The bill was repealed shortly thereafter. So, I hear your point. The issue now is will they be forced to do it for financial reasons. I still think they will cut MA rates (the Dems are chomping at the bit to do this), but cuts to regular FFS benefits would be much more explosive. They will only do that as a last resort. Instead, they will try to squeeze providers. The reform bill does this in a number of ways.
This is the biggest labyrinth I’ve ever seen. It’s twisted with massive tax increases, new fees for service, planned cuts in Medicare, phony savings and accounting (to say the least), 10 years of taxation and only 6 years of expenditures and last but not least a host of unfunded mandates. Why is it that Dems love unfunded mandates so much?