Republicans want to privatize Medicare. Sure, they'll give out vouchers to help with the cost, but their basic approach to medical insurance is for everyone to buy it in the "free market".
So what does the free market look like? I looked at the financials for 5 big insurance companies - Aetna, UnitedHealth Group, Wellpoint, Humana and Aetna. In total, their income statements were:
Revenue is cost + 36%
Expense is 19% of revenue
Profit is 5% of revenue
So what does this mean?
It means that premiums for private insurance would be 36% higher that the current cost of Medicare. Even if vouchers were handed out to equal the current Medicare cost, PREMIUMS WOULD GO UP 36% above the voucher value.
If government costs are cut by handing out vouchers that are less than current costs (the republican plan to save money) PREMIUMS WILL GO UP MORE THAN 36%.
Medicare costs about $500B per year. Premiums will go up by about $181 Billion. Where will this go?
Expenses - $130B. Do we really want to fund another $130B of lobbying, advertising and redundant administrative systems and processes?
Profit - $34B. Do insurance companies need another bailout?
Tax - $18B. OK, insurance companies will pay a bit more tax (unless, of course, we decide that taxes impair business growth).
There can only be one response to this plan - NFW.