Should the public health insurance option pay Medicare rates?
Not necessarily. Medicare and the VA are both government-run health care plans, and they pay different rates. And in fact, Medicare should pay higher rates for primary care and less for some specialists. By allowing the public health insurance plan to bargain for its own rates, as Schumer is doing, we can even out that balance. Schumer is only saying the public health insurance option will pay “more” than Medicare, but not saying how much more or more to which providers, and is still allowing the public health insurance option to bargain, something Medicare under Part D (a huge giveaway to the drug companies) can’t do for drug prices. Schumer’s plan is, in fact, a victory. Should the public health insurance option be overseen by a separate board? Making a separate board to oversee the public health insurance plan makes sense. The administrators would still be government officials according to Schumer, but they wouldn’t be the same people making the rules about the insurance market. I’m
