No doubt he sees himself as a paragon of courage for bucking his party, but in reality Scott Brown is knuckling under to what he perceives will be the demands of his liberal Massachusetts base. Today in Politico Senator Scott Brown stands up for the status quo on Medicare.
We should start by making improvements to the traditional Medicare plan.
The Government Accountability Office has estimated that nearly 10 percent, or $47 billion, of annual Medicare spending is nothing but waste, fraud or abuse. Attorney General Eric Holder has put the number higher — at $60 billion. We need Medicare administrators to work to prevent these improper payments — instead of the existing “pay and chase” model that makes the system so susceptible to fraud.
We can also find savings by increasing congressional oversight of how Medicare reimburses providers; as well as improving the quality of medical care to seniors.
Where is all this waste and fraud that politicians have been talking about for decades? If there are billions to be saved, why haven't we done something about it before this? If there has been such a massive corruption all this time, why why does Brown think we're going do something about it now? And we'll accomplish this with more government oversight! Oh yeah, that'll sure work!
There is little question that health care suffers from a lack of exposure to market forces. Health care professionals are insulated from the decisions of the end consumers by insurance. Insurance companies are insulated by regulations that prohibit competition across state lines.
Scott Brown offers no change and no solution to those problems. The only problem his health care proposal seeks to solve is his re-election.
