All of these plans will bring some serious pain to our business, because all of them will increase the bargaining clout of purchasers. Obviously, when we look at the longer term, complete reform of Medicare has to be a major priority. The lack of a prescription drug benefit is only its most glaring flaw. The Medicare system is 35 years old and sick to its heart, congested with a set of rules and regulations that have grown larger than the tax code - over 130,000 pages. Medical services are not at all integrated.
Competition is squashed under price controls.
And as for innovation, Medicare is so rigidly locked in red tape that it literally takes an act of Congress to approve a new treatment. The whole program needs an overhaul. But I would argue that the attention of the reformers has to reach beyond simply repairing Medicare so that it's able to meet the needs of today's senior citizens. They have to redesign it to serve future generations as well. And that requires them to take into account the coming demands on health care.