Medicare in the Cross-hairs

From today's Wall street Journal

The Republican Natl Committee just released its Health Care Bill of Rights for Seniors. It includes protecting Medicare from cuts and rationing of services. The WSJ says the statement highlights an irony in the health debate, as illustrated during some of the emotional town-hall meetings this month: Many Americans say they fear a government takeover of health care, even as they resist any cuts to Medicare, the federal government's largest health program.

WSJ: "The new RNC position doesn't offer any significant cost-cutting ideas and instead focuses on preserving Medicare and health benefits for military families." Katie Wright, an RN!spokeswoman, said Republicans still believed in controlling Medicare costs but think "money shouldn't be taken from Medicare to fund a new entitlement."

Republicans and Democrats have feuded over Medicare since its inception in 1965, and it is usually Democrats who adopt the stance of protecting the program against cost-cutters. Ronald Reagan proposed cutting $1 billion in Medicare spending while president in 1981, when the program cost just $40 billion a year.

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This underlies the basic misunderstanding the public has of american healthcare. The government currently operates 30% of the "healthcare market" through Medicare and Medicaid. When seniors say they fear the government will end up controlling their healthcare its more than ironic since its worked pretty well for 44 years.

Some on the right do however understand what's needed. Fox News recently suggested ThedaCare of Appleton as a national model. This is exactly what we should do to make health care reform affordable. See this link for an informative video on ThedaCare's lean practices and cost cutting collaborative care model:
http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/25995515/collaborative-care.htm#q=ThedaCare