The President has only one card left...

[kentuck]

And he must play it Wednesday night when he gives his speech on health care.

Since more and more baby boomers are nearing the retirement age, there will be an even bigger squeeze on the Medicare program. There are not enough people paying into it to keep it alive. In order to save Medicare, we must expand it to more of our citizens.

The reality is that older folks tend to have more medical problems. If all we have are old folks on the program, and many more since the baby boomers are coming of age, it is necessary to expand the program to cover more of our citizens.

The idea is to offer health coverage to those that can no longer afford the coverage of private insurance. We cannot simply throw these folks overboard. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this boat together. We have an obligation to take care of those folks with pre-existing conditions and no one should have to lose their home and everything they have worked for just because they have the misfortune of a catastrophic illness.

The President has no choice but to announce that the Medicare program will be expanded to cover more of our citizens. It will be totally voluntarily but no citizen should be without healthcare if they become ill or if they lose their jobs or if they simply cannot afford the premiums of the private health care industry.

[leftstreet]

1. Card? But I thought he was playing chess

K&R

[tomp]

15. beautiful! nt

[Selatius]

2. Keeping Medicare solvent would likely require raiding other government programs or raising taxes.

But I generally think cutting the military budget by a third and dumping the funds over into Medicare would hold it over.

A second step would be to dissolve Medicare Advantage and simply let Medicare itself handle the services instead of outsourcing to private corporations that invariably tack on a profit mark-up. Then, repeal Medicare Part D and simply let Medicare negotiate down prescription drug prices rather than subsidizing pharmaceutical companies' profits.

This could all be done even if Medicare isn't expanded to everyone else.

[jgraz]

5. Allowing people to buy in to medicare would be a good way to make it solvent

Of course, he could still cut the military budget and raise taxes on brazillionaires.

All of which are equally likely to happen, unfortunately.

[opihimoimoi]

3. President Obama has many Cards left....he is in a defensive, reactive mode...watch for shift to

Proactive Mode.

His Trump Cards have yet to emerge....

His Poker Chips still in commanding lead.....the Pubs reduced to limping

[leeroysphitz]

14. Magical thinking.

[kentuck]

16. He may have many cards left...

but not on the health care issue.

[bonjourtristesse]

4. It was all decided when Rahm was chosen by Obama. And it's not playing cards, it's chess with ponies

[t0dd]

6. Allow anyone under 65 to buy into Medicare and base their premiums on monthly income..

Provide subsidies for the unemployed. Medicare would be saved from bankruptcy because the system would largely pay for itself.

[kentuck]

7. Politically, there has to be a public option.

Otherwise, he stands the chance of losing much of his support, especially from the left base of the Party. That is a gamble he cannot take. And Medicare is the only "public option" that is already in place. I don't see that he has any other choice but to announce a "buy-in" for Medicare.

[European Socialist]

9. He must do something like you describe...

or the Repukes will be kicking his bloody corpse around for quite awhile.

[drm604]

8. We could save Medicare and introduce something equivalent to a "public option"

simply by opening up Medicare to anyone who wants to buy into it. And it would have to be open to anyone, so the pool consists of a good cross section of the population.

As I understand it, since it would affect Medicare funding, and is therefore budgetary, it could be done through reconciliation!

[eomer]

10. You will not save Medicare that way. You will make it fail.

You recognize that people who become ill and people with pre-existing condition exclusions in other plans are the ones who would opt in. But the huge point you miss is that you can't save Medicare by bringing in just sick people. The cost for sick people would be higher than the premiums they would pay (or could pay).

An option to buy in to Medicare will not work. It would allow insurers to go even farther in their gaming of the system whereby they pretend to insure people while they are well but then find ways to be rid of them when they get sick.

A universal mandate for Medicare would work. An option to buy in will not.

[gristy]

11. exactly

[Faryn Balyncd]

12. You've got a point. The only way a hybrid system will work is open enrollment & community ratings...

.....for both public & private plans.

[kentuck]

13. Maybe?

But that is assuming that only sick people will opt in. However, a mandated program may be much more difficult to sell than one that is voluntary.

[eomer]

17. This is like letting someone buy fire insurance on their house after it has already burned down.

And then paying a claim for the fire that happened just before they bought the policy.

Seriously. Think about it.