Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn Proposes Massive Medicare Fix

Oklahoma Senator Dr. Tom Coburn and North Carolina Senator Richard Burr unveiled a proposal in Washington Thursday that they say will help build a stronger, more sustainable Medicare program with immediate and long term goals.

It is called the Seniors' Choice Act and Coburn says if Congress doesn't fix Medicare, it will go insolvent.

"Right now, the American people have little faith in Congress' ability to do anything to fix the problems facing our nation, and with good reason. But let's prove them wrong. The Medicare program is broken and we have an obligation and an opportunity to fix it," Dr. Coburn said.

Immediate Reforms: Better Benefits

• Seniors in traditional Medicare will have peace of mind that they are protected from unexpected, high medical costs by limiting their maximum out-of-pocket medical expenses under Medicare Parts A and B.
• Seniors in traditional Medicare who would otherwise be at risk because of their health care needs will be able to benefit from targeted care coordination when they need it.
• Many seniors will save money. Modernizing Medigap and rationalizing cost-sharing will offer many seniors the chance to save money each month.

Longer-Term Reforms: Better Choices

• Premium support is a patient-centered approach to strengthening Medicare. Instead of a one-size-fits-all approach to Medicare, seniors will have the choice of a better benefit that meets their individual health care needs.
• Premium support puts patients and doctors back in charge of their health care decisions, instead of the President's unelected, unaccountable board of bureaucrats—the Independent Payment Advisory Board—with the power to cut Medicare payments to doctors, which will threaten patients' access to care.
• Medicare will compete for patients and be forced to give seniors and taxpayers the best deal for their dollar.
• Seniors have benefited from choice and competition in Medicare Part D, which has enabled seniors to have an affordable prescription drug benefit. Seniors should benefit from the same kinds of choices and competition for their entire Medicare benefit.
• Premium support will strengthen Medicare for seniors by giving them the ability to choose the Medicare plan that will best work for them, just like they do with their Medicare prescription drug coverage today.

Seniors' Choice Act information links:

The Seniors' Choice Act: Full Report

Seniors' Choice Act: Better Benefit for Seniors

Seniors' Choice Act: Questions & Answers

Seniors' Choice Act: Illustrative Patient Scenarios

Medicare by the Numbers

MCPA vs. IPAB

How Seniors' Choice Act Builds on Bipartisan Proposals