If You Like Your Coverage, You Can't Keep It

October 01, 2009

By Newt Gingrich Original Publication: washingtonpost.com

Newt Gingrich is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation and former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

If You Like Your Coverage, You Can't Keep It

Medicare Advantage was created to give all seniors more private choices of higher quality and better benefits. Today it provides almost 11 million Americans coverage through private insurance plans--roughly 20 percent of all Medicare recipients. Recent data shows that seniors have better health outcomes under the plan. In fact, Medicare Advantage enrollees spent an average of 18 percent fewer days in the hospital than seniors in traditional Medicare; they had an average of 27 percent fewer visits to the emergency room; and, they experienced a 42 percent lower rate of hospital re-admissions.

The reform proposals currently being considered in Congress would gut the Medicare Advantage program risking the health and well-being of millions of seniors across the country. In the House, H.R. 3200 would cut Medicare Advantage by $172 billion, and in the Senate, the bill sponsored by Sen. Max Baucus would cut the program by $113 billion. These cuts are part of more than $400 billion in cuts advocated by the president and congressional Democrats. Despite the president saying "if you like your coverage, you can keep it," or the updated version, "if you like your coverage, you won't be forced to change it," millions of seniors who have Medicare Advantage plans would see their benefits slashed. This is not the "change" President Obama called for in November.

The president can do better. Rather than cutting Medicare, let's turn to cost-cutting measures that would truly transform our health system. Let's eliminate the fraud, waste and abuse that the Center for Health Transformation estimates would save our health system approximately $100 billion a year.