Senate Republicans have taken a curious tone as the reform debate has plopped itself squarely onto the party’s lap. Taking the especially dubious mantle as a defender of Medicare, the GOP’s call to action could be interpreted, at best, as really looking out for the financial well being for the stability of a very broken system — one whose funds are on the brink of instability. At worst, the move is just another strategic ploy in poking holes into the Democrats’ overarching plans for publicly funded healthcare delivery.

Whatever the case for the Republicans’ sudden interest in the senior healthcare entitlement program, the Democrats just-as-sudden “consensus” on the adoption of an expanded Medicare program may be the GOP’s mouth of the gifthorse.

Now that the provision to open up benefits to those aged 55 and over is gaining steam in the reform debate, some in the GOP should reexamine the potential for an increase in unsustainability in Medicare rather than the presumed opposite scenario. How capable is Medicare of absorbing an additional 4 million or so beneficiaries, especially now that proposed cuts in the program were recently upheld by Senate vote? Also, what will entice newly minted medical school graduates to look a mountain of debt in the face and still opt to go into primary care specialties if they’re not going to be compensated for this sudden influx of patients to the program?

If President Obama signs a reform bill into law with this provision in place, guaranteeing access to the completely uninsured, that access will be compromised almost immediately; hospitals will continue to see “qualified” patients, but they will do so with overburdened ER’s and lowered reimbursements and without the help of primary care physicians in the community who can’t afford to grant them that access. Talk about your loss leaders.

Related Posts Within Doctor Pundit:

1. Report: Price Discrepancies of Insurance Coverage Persist in Senate Finance Cmte. Reform Bill It’s just something that makes healthcare policy observers want to...
2. Among Democrats, an Uncertain Future Awaits Reform Debate in Senate The divisiveness among conservatives as Republicans and liberals (usually as...
3. Senate Votes to Keep Medicare Cuts Intact, Ensures Preventive Women’s Health Sen. John McCain’s move to include an amendment in the...