Herman Cain Appears To Mistakenly Believe Medicare Is A State-Run Program

Time after time when hearing Republican proposals to fix problems I find reason to question whether the Republican has any knowledge of that program or issue under discussion.This was the case again during Herman Cain’s health policy speech last week when it sure looked like Cain does not realize that Medicare is a federal as opposed to a state-run program. (An alternative, and less likely, interpretation is that he thinks Medicare should be transferred to the states). Here is a partial transcript:

The way that I am going to help all of us convince the American public that we’ve got to restructure Medicare and not just change the benefits and retirement age is to paint a real clear picture of the disaster path that we’re on. That’s #1.

Secondly, back to one of my guiding principles, talk to the states, talk to the doctors and find out what can we do first to reduce the Medicare bureaucracy that’s imposed on doctors and health care providers and hospitals. I believe, based upon listening to doctors, that there’s a lot that can be done.

Much of the over-regulatory burden that’s imposed by Medicare is driven by the fact that the bureaucrats don’t trust states and hospitals. I do. I would rather error on the side of trusting the states and maybe five of them won’t get it right, but that the other 45 are going to get it right and we all will benefit.

The standard Republican line of reducing regulation has some truth to it, but it is also simplistic–especially as Republicans overestimate the regulatory cost of Democratic regulations as opposed to the comparable cost of Republican-passed regulations. Simplifying regulations would be helpful and save some money, but this would be trivial compared to the overall problems in health care. These savings would not make up for the increased costs due to an aging population and new, more expensive medical technology. Solving all problems in Medicare would not resolve the even more serious problem in the private insurance market, which Republicans refuse to address. Of course to even begin offering solutions, Cain needs to understand the basics of how Medicare is run–such as that it is a federal and not a state program.

1 Comment

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    Nancy Bigda Parent says:

    Maybe in u-beka-beka-bekastan:) RT @RonChusid:Cain Appears To Believe Medicare Is A State-Run Program #p2 #p21 #topprog http://t.co/4DGMS9ND

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