The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has until November 23 to come up with a plan to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit. Then, Congress needs to have an up or down vote on the plan by December 23. We’re in for an interesting few more months watching the congressional version of “Survivor.”
Here’s a prediction: The plan will arrive at the very last minute and it still won’t deal with the fundamental systemic dysfunction our economy is facing today. The numbers may add
up to $1.2-$1.5 trillion- but the way getting there will likely hurt a lot of people unnecessarily. The politics continues to avoid addressing the “causes” for the dysfunction instead of addressing them head-on.The costs associated with Medicare and Medicaid need to be on the table. They are a large part of the problem and can’t be ignored. Unfortunately, the “super committee” will likely focus on the level benefits provided to beneficiaries and the costs paid to providers (“end result items”) as opposed to creating the environment to help the health care system eliminate the waste, inefficiency, and fraud (“the cause items”) that create the costs in the first place.
Eligibility will change for both Medicare and Medicaid, contributions will increase, current benefits will be scrutinized or reduced, and the amount paid to those delivering the care will be reduced as well. The “end results” will be covered.
Nothing will likely be mentioned about changing the current pay-as-you-go reimbursement methods, very little mentioned about improving consumer education and understanding to help them make better decisions, not much will be discussed about improving the coordination and communication of care decisions when inside the health care system or creating systems where health care providers in general agree with what works and what doesn’t.
I suppose the super committee will assume that the private market will simply need to adjust to the new reality- there were no other options. Many of these items are somewhat addessed in the Affordable Care Act but consumers aren’t so sure of that one either. But, there are other options. If the super committee really focused on “the cause items,” Medicare and Medicaid could contribute significantly toward the deficit reduction goal without cutting benefits or payments nearly as significantly as they are likely to propose.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. It will be another down-to-the-wire episode.
