Sen. Joseph Lieberman says that the partisanship over Medicare has gotten so bad that “it is enough to make you want to become an independent.” Since he is registered as one, the senator from Connecticut believes he is in a good position to come up with a solution, which he outlined in the Washington Post today.
Lieberman says his five-pronged approach will “preserve Medicare without privatizing it by saving at least $200 billion in Medicare spending over the next 10 years and extending Medicare’s solvency by approximately 20 years.” It’s a fix he hopes will be a compromise between Democrats, who oppose changing the program's premium and benefit structure, and Republicans, who oppose pumping more money into the program.
The plan calls for: raising the Medicare eligibility age every year starting in 2014 by two months until it reaches 67 in 2025; reforming the benefit structure; raising the prices of premiums for all new enrollees for doctor’s services and prescriptions; reforming Medigap policies; and asking the richest Americans to pay an additional 1 percent of every dollar they earn over $250,000 to help pay for the program.
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