Privatized Part D Means $3.9 Billion in Taxes (Rep. Paul Hodes)

In 2003, President Bush told Congress that privatizing the delivery of Medicare services would lead to better coverage and huge savings.  But yesterday the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released a study showing that instead of bringing down costs, allowing private insurance companies to handle Part D has added $3.9 billion to our annual tax bill.  It turns out that these companies aren’t able to negotiate prices with the same power traditional Medicare has, and that the small savings they are able to affect are not being passed on to consumers.

Needlessly handing over billions of tax dollars to insurance companies is not what I call fiscal conservatism.  It is clear that this program has turned into a windfall for private insurance companies at taxpayer expense, and it’s time to look for methods that are friendlier to taxpayers and consumers alike.

The full report can be viewed here.