Whatever merits one may ascribe to the recently enacted Medicarelaw, it has aggravated, not controlled, rapidly rising Medicarecosts. Its major feature is a massive entitlement expansion, but italso embodies some bad health care policy: There is no need for thefederal government to displace existing drug coverage, pre-empt newprivate-sector options, or accelerate the loss of employer-baseddrug coverage.
The available evidence does not indicate that a public plan modeledon Medicare could provide health care comparable to that offered byexisting private plans, let alone at a lower cost. Contrary toproponents' claims, a public plan could not achieve cost savings orsubstantially reduce the number of uninsured without substantiallyreducing the quality and access to health care that Americanscurrently enjoy.
A preliminary analysis of the Prescription Drug and MedicareImprovement Act of 2003 based on a descriptive outline of theSenate bill's provisions; it is not based on formal legislativelanguage, which has been unavailable to the public.