- The reconciliation package includes several bad health care–related provisions that all boil down to Washington wanting more control of America's health care decision-making.
- One of those items is a massive expansion of government’s role in health care by expanding Medicare to cover dental, hearing, and vision services—which ignores the fact that benefits are already available through the privately administered Medicare Advantage.
- This proposed expansion also completely ignores the fiscal crisis that the current Medicare program faces. With Medicare Part A facing insolvency in 2024, lawmakers will be forced to make decisions about what will happen to the program, its beneficiaries, or the taxpayers. This is not the time to expand Medicare beyond its limits.
Resources:
- Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Spree Would Be Hazardous to Medicare’s Financial Health (October 1, 2021)
- Health Policy Changes in Democrats’ Spending Bill Would Reduce Patients’ Choices, Raise Taxpayer Costs (September 23, 2021)
- There’s (Cradle to) Grave Waste in Democrats’ $3.5 Trillion Spending Plan (September 15, 2021)
- It’s Time To Update and Improve the Annual Medicare Trustees’ Report (April 23, 2021)
- Biden’s Medicare Expansion Proposal: More Power to Washington (April 14, 2021)
- Washington Must Face the Coming Medicare Crisis (March 9, 2021)