Two Republican senators on Thursday introduced a plan to quickly and drastically reform Medicare, calling on lawmakers and candidates to stop ducking the issue because of election-year politics.
“It is morally unacceptable to ignore the biggest elephant in the room, which will have a very negative impact on this country’s future, just because there is an election year coming up,” the plan’s co-author, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said.
Coburn and Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., wrote the Senior’s Choice Act, which would reduce Medicare costs by raising the beneficiaries’ eligibility age and by allowing people to opt out and use competing private health care plans instead. It also cuts costs by increasing co-payments for the wealthy. The 60,000 millionaires who now receive Medicare would pay the full cost of Medicare Parts B and D premiums and have a higher deductible under the plan.
