President Trump says the changes to Medicare will serve to protect Americans from Sanders' savaging of health insurance for the elderly. (Photo: Bloomberg)
President Trump took his Bernie-busting road show to Florida Thursday, unveiling a series of steroid injections to Medicare that would have the effect of defending the rights of seniors and the profits of insurers. The President's trip to a comfortable senior facility in Central Florida put him back on the offensive after a week of reacting to the Democrats' latest impeachment attempt.
Trump and his hand-picked Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator, Seema Verma, have been turning up the heat on Bernie Sanders' proposal to cover all Americans under one enormous Medicare insurance umbrella. From the White House perspective, such a plan is loaded with flaws that would put older Americans at risk and cut out Medicare Advantage plans entirely.
Trump chose the senior audience in Florida to announce a series of enhancements for Medicare, and Medicare Advantage plans in particular, that he and Verma say would serve to protect Americans from Sanders' savaging of health insurance for the elderly. The plan was outlined in an executive order entitled, "Protecting Medicare from Socialist Destruction."
By proposing to bolster Medicare Advantage plans, Trump sends a message to two key audiences: 1) Seniors who can afford the additional insurance, and 2) insurers that offer the lucrative (for them) coverage. Is it a peace offering for his occasional shots at the industry? We will have to wait to see his campaign contributions reports. But certainly preserving Medicare Advantage is an industry priority, given that the private insurance covers 22 million Medicare customers.
According to Trump officials, Trump's order would create more private plan service options, expand the range of affordable plan options, boost the use of telehealth services, and include one fee-for-service program for both Medicare and Medicare Advantage.
Verma has made it clear that the Sanders approach to health insurance for all is nothing short of a disaster. She referred to it as "morally wrong" in an interview with CNBC, and added: "I'm deeply concerned about proposals that eviscerate Medicare by indiscriminately stripping private health insurance."
Neither she nor her boss mentioned that Trump's impeachment pest, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, also opposes the Sanders universal healthcare concept. Like Trump, she prefers a blended solution. Which, of course, describes Obamacare.
Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to BenefitsPRO, part of your ALM digital membership.
Your access to unlimited BenefitsPRO content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
