One of the more significant differences between the two major political parties in the 2012 election is with the future of Medicare.
The Democratic Party supports President Obama’s plan to maintain Medicare in its current form but make structural reforms to encourage the use of high-value rather than high-cost services. The Obama Medicare reform proposal would alter the current payment plan while also reduce fraud and waste in the system.
The Republicans suggest that Medicare move away from a defined-benefit entitlement program to a defined-contribution-based model. While retaining the option of traditional Medicare in competition with private plans, the GOP seeks a premium-support model, with an income-adjusted contribution toward a health plan of the enrollee’s choice.
[polldaddy poll=6492266]
mary wood says
Editor – Does the above chart reflect opinion across the country, or just among your readers?
Stephan Sonn says
A national poll has come to the opposite opinion by the same numbers.
Oh I forgot, this is the plantation Kent County, So sorry, really.
Just how many have participated in this survey?
Jimmy Reynolds says
Dear Sirs,
Does Mr. Sonn’s reference to “plantation Kent County?” fall under the Chestertown Spy guidelines of “speak your mind but be kind”. Is racially tinged invective the new norm for civil discourse on your website?
Jimmy Reynolds
Sudlersville
Steve Payne says
I agree
Peter Stroup says
Let’s be honest – the Republicans want to do away with Medicare, along with Medicaid. They won’t come out and say it, but they have opposed the program since its inception.
Steve Cades says
The bottom-line question is this: there are only four possible alternatives here: 1) We can keep the present system in which working-class people get what care they can in the emergency room and simply suffer from their chronic disorders. In this case the rest of us pay for “uncompensated care” via taxes. 2) We can simply deny all care (except via charity) to those who can’t pay for it. 3) We can accept what’s really a Republican plan–the Affordable Care Act. 4) We can go to the approach used in almost all of the rest of the developed world–single-payer; that is, paid by taxes. Those are the choices. A voucher plan is just a variation of choice 1.
Virtually all medical economists say that choice 4 is the cheapest, and is most likely to improve everyone’s health, on average. Choice 3 is less efficient, and thus more expensive than 4, but will reult in better health, on average than 1. I include 2 because it is a logical possibility, widely found in underdeveloped countries. I hope that no one in the Spy’s readership would leave people to die in the streets, however.
Via the political process, we get to choose. See you at the polls!