NYTimes: Hidden Costs for Seniors in Senate Health Care Bill

Meredith Jessup | October 21, 2009 3:37 PM

On the New York Times Prescriptions health blog today, Milt Freudenheim has written about some buried provisions in the 1,500 page Senate health care bill that will be particularly costly for senior citizens:

The Senate Finance Committee has quietly recommended that millions elderly Americans who buy Medigap plans be charged new co-pays for doctor’s visits starting in 2015. ...

The new co-pays are intended to push elderly patients to think twice before consulting their doctors. Some studies have found that Medigap policyholders use at least 25 percent more health care services than the generally lower-income Medicare enrollees who do not have Medigap policies.

The Left howled and moaned when critics of the president's plan warned that it would lead to rationed coverage for senior citizens--all lies and falsehoods they said. But what do you call a co-pay specifically designed to make elderly patients think twice before seeing a doctor?

And where is the AARP to complain about this? As Sweetness & Light points out today, "Lest we forget, the Reagan catastrophic healthcare reform legislation was repealed once seniors and the AARP discovered that it might require the richest participants to pay up to $560 for their yearly deductible. How times have changed."