House Democrats called a major GOP effort to privatize Medicare a non-starter, just as both parties are set to consider the Republican’s budget proposal later this week.
The full-throated defense, outlined in the Democrats’ own budget proposal Monday, could complicate the House GOP’s efforts to pass its own budget.
House Democrats’ budget eliminates sequester spending caps, avoids steep spending cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and preserves Obamacare, which the GOP aims to replace.
“This budget doesn’t cut any Medicare benefits,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., ranking member of the House Budget Committee, on a call with reporters Monday.
Instead, the budget aims to spend Medicare dollars more efficiently, turning to parts of President Obama’s budget for ideas. For instance, one idea outlined in the House budget is to enable Medicare to negotiate for lower prices on pharmaceuticals, an idea first floated in the president’s budget proposal.
Democrats hope to save $121 billion over the next decade through these efficiencies.
The House Budget Committee, on the other hand, would build a premium support program for Medicare in which private and traditional Medicare health plans can bid to cover seniors. “Premium support payments would be paid by Medicare, directly to the plan chosen by the beneficiary,” the budget reads.
In addition, the GOP’s budget would offer block grants to states to help tailor their Medicaid programs to fit their needs.
Those proposals irked Democrats, who rejected “attempts to end Medicare as we know it,” said Rep. Debra Dingell, D-Mich.
The budgets are largely symbolic documents, but can illustrate where the two parties stand on spending for entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid, one expert told the Washington Examiner.
“The budget differences paint what will be the future battles rhetorically as we enter deeper into the 2016 presidential race,” said Mark Harkins, a faculty member of Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute.
The GOP budget will be considered by the full House later this week.
Last year, Republicans barely passed their budget by a vote of 219-205. Now Republicans have a larger majority, and can afford to lose 28 Republican votes if no Democrats support the budget.
While Democratic support is not expected this year, the GOP is once again getting pushback from the more conservative part of its caucus.
The Republican Study Committee, a collection of conservative House members, unveiled its own budget Monday that would cut $7.1 trillion and balance the budget in six years. That is much more than the Republican budget offered, which hopes to balance the budget in nine years and cuts $5.5 billion.
