Paul Kurgman:--Krugman June 14. 11

Paul Kurgman:

note Paul's name mispelled by Post Dispatch in early write. It is Krugman not Kurgman

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snip from article:

Paul Krugman | Posted: Tuesday, June 14, 2011


"Every once in a while a politician comes up with an idea that's so bad, so wrongheaded, that you're almost grateful. For really bad ideas can help illustrate the extent to which policy discourse has gone off the rails.

And so it was with Sen. Joseph Lieberman's proposal, released last week, to raise the age for Medicare eligibility to 67 from 65.

Like Republicans who want to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with (grossly inadequate) insurance vouchers, Lieberman describes his proposal as a way to save Medicare. It wouldn't actually do that. But more to the point, our goal shouldn't be to 'save Medicare," whatever that means. It should be to ensure that Americans get the health care they need, at a cost the nation can afford.

And here's what you need to know: Medicare actually saves money — a lot of money — compared with relying on private insurance companies. And this in turn means that pushing people out of Medicare, in addition to depriving many Americans of needed care, would almost surely end up increasing total health care costs.

The idea of Medicare as a money-saving program may seem hard to grasp. After all, hasn't Medicare spending risen dramatically over time? Yes, it has: Adjusting for overall inflation, Medicare spending per beneficiary rose more than 400 percent from 1969 to 2009"
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