Health Affairs January 17, 2018
Old-timers who remember the Breaux-Thomas Bipartisan Medicare Commission from the late 1990s usually remember it for two main policy ideas. First, premium support, an idea to put Medicare’s fee-for-service (FFS) program into more direct competition with private comprehensive “risk” plans (now called Medicare Advantage plans). Second, modernizing Medicare’s benefits, particularly for prescription drugs.
Neither premium support nor the drug benefit materialized quite the way Senator John Breaux (D-LA) and House Ways and Means Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) envisioned. Yet, over time Medicare has created a larger role for Medicare Advantage plans and Congress added Medicare’s Part D drug benefit in 2003.
But the Medicare Commission had a third policy goal: moving away from blind fee-for-service reimbursement toward a more selective...
Today's Sponsors
Today's Sponsor