By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    bowl of vegetable salad
    Raw Foods: benefits and harms
    November 9, 2021
    pros and cons of the keto diet
    Read This Before You Follow the Keto Diet
    May 18, 2022
    spinal cord injuries
    4 Potential Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries (and How to Seek Compensation)
    May 25, 2022
    Latest News
    7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
    August 20, 2025
    Hospital Pest Control and the Fight Against Superbugs
    August 20, 2025
    Hygiene Beyond The Clinic: Attention To Overlooked Non-Clinical Spaces
    August 13, 2025
    5 Steps to a Promising Career as a Healthcare Administrator
    August 3, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    TBI: Some Surprising Statistics
    February 9, 2016
    Your Keys to Safer, Even More Secure Healthcare Cloud Services
    January 13, 2015
    4 Career Options in Healthcare Industry that Combine Big Data & Healthcare
    February 5, 2021
    Latest News
    How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
    August 22, 2025
    How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
    August 22, 2025
    How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
    August 22, 2025
    How IT and Marketing Teams Can Collaborate to Protect Patient Trust
    July 17, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Business Roundtable Offers Pragmatism on Social Security and Medicare
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Policy & Law > Health Reform > Business Roundtable Offers Pragmatism on Social Security and Medicare
BusinessHealth Reform

Business Roundtable Offers Pragmatism on Social Security and Medicare

DavidEWilliams
DavidEWilliams
Share
3 Min Read
SHARE

Business leaders tend to be pragmatic and non-ideological, so their influence is much needed at a time when Congress is so dysfunctional. Today’s release of Social Security Reform and Medicare Modernization Proposals by the Business Roundtable and accompanying Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by Roundtable chairman Gary Loveman are welcome inputs.

Business leaders tend to be pragmatic and non-ideological, so their influence is much needed at a time when Congress is so dysfunctional. Today’s release of Social Security Reform and Medicare Modernization Proposals by the Business Roundtable and accompanying Wall Street Journal op-ed piece by Roundtable chairman Gary Loveman are welcome inputs.

The white paper wisely starts with Social Security. It was once known as the Third Rail of American Politics, but Social Security fixes are actually much easier to make than Medicare. A few simple steps: gradually raising the retirement age, means testing benefits, using a conservative measure for inflation, and adding new state and local government workers to the system are all that it will take to keep the system solvent for a long, long time.

Then the topic turns to Medicare, which is a lot more out of control. The proposals from the Roundtable are almost as simple sounding as those for Social Security, but alas they are more complex to implement and unlikely to bring about a real solution. The Medicare proposals include:

More Read

How to Make Your Blogs Go Viral
Ponzi Schemes
CEO’s Sleep: How Many Hours do Entrepreneurs Sleep?
4 Tips for Building a Better Hospital Brand
The 5 Standards of Provider Engagement
  • Raising the eligibility age  over time to 70 (but exempting anyone 55 or older)
  • Expanding private plans’ involvement in Medicare to compete with fee-for-service Medicare
  • Provide more means testing for Medicare beneficiaries

Raising the eligibility age just shifts costs onto employers and individuals, who will probably spend more than Medicare does since they don’t get rates that are as low.

The Roundtable report cites savings from private competition in Medicare Part D (the drug benefit),  but it’s unclear that such savings can be translated across the whole Medicare program. Experience with Medicare Advantage would suggest that costs are higher rather than lower under such a scenario.

Providing more means testing is a reasonable idea, but it’s unclear how much savings can realistically be obtained.

As an aside, the Business Roundtable says it represents “leading U.S. companies with more than $7.3 trillion in annual revenues and nearly 16 million employees.” If so, that translates to roughly $500,000 per employee, which is about what Goldman Sachs pays. I’ve asked the folks who run the numbers for the Roundtable to explain this information to me. I will let you know what they come back with.

 

TAGGED:Medicare
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

engineer fitting prosthetic arm
How Social Security Disability Shapes Access to Care and Everyday Health
Health care
August 20, 2025
a woman explaining the document
How a DUI Lawyer Can Help When Your Future Health Feels Uncertain
Public Health
August 20, 2025
physiotherapist at work
How One Fall Can Lead to a Long Road of Medical Complications
Health care
August 20, 2025
Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs
7 Most Common Healthcare Accreditation Programs: Which Should You Use?
Health News
August 20, 2025

You Might also Like

Reference Pricing and the Role of the Government

November 12, 2013
Dr. Cohn discussing collaborative communication with physician leaders
BusinessHospital Administration

Collaborative Communication

July 10, 2014

Wal-Mart Offers Medical Tourism Legitimacy

November 17, 2012
healthcare reform
Health ReformPolicy & LawPublic Health

Obamacare Simplification: Is That Like “Jumbo Shrimp”?

May 1, 2013
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?