NEW DSCC AD: Richard Burr Took A Million Dollars From Insurance Industry & Wrote A Plan To Privative Medicare

V/O: Look up the facts on Richard Burr.

GFX: Look Up The Facts

V/O: The insurance industry gave Richard Burr’s campaigns one-point-one million dollars. That’s public record.

GFX: Insurance Industry Gave Richard Burr’s Campaigns $1.1 Million

-Center for Responsive Politics

BURR HAS TAKEN OVER $1.1 MILLION FROM THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY DURING HIS CAREER

Burr Has Received $1.1 Million From Insurance Interests. Over the course of his political career Burr has received a total of $1,172,299 from insurance industry interests. [Center for Responsive Politics, Accessed 9/14/16]

SPOKESPERSON: And Richard Burr wrote a plan to privatize Medicare.

GFX: Richard Burr Wrote Plan

To Privatize Medicare

-AP, 2/16/12

BURR INTRODUCED A PLAN TO PRIVATIZE MEDICARE, WHICH WAS DERIDED AS THE RYAN PLAN “ON STEROIDS”

2012: Associated Press: Burr Unveiled His Own Medicare Privatization Plan, Which Would “Start The Transition To A System Dominated By Private Insurance Plans” Faster Than The Ryan Plan. “Two Republican senators unveiled a Medicare overhaul Thursday that features an accelerated transition to private health insurance for many seniors, a gradual increase in the eligibility age, and higher premiums for middle-class and upper-income retirees. […] Like Ryan, Coburn and Burr would gradually raise the eligibility age to 67. But their plan also differs in several important ways. It would start the transition to a system dominated by private insurance plans in 2016 instead of waiting a decade, as Ryan has proposed. Private plans would compete with a government-sponsored program, a retooled version of today’s Medicare. Seniors would get a fixed amount from the government which they could apply toward a private plan or the government plan modeled on Medicare. Benefits would not be spelled out, but all plans would have to meet a test of basic insurance value.” [Associated Press, 2/16/12]

• Burr Proposed Privatizing Medicare Within 4 Years. “Republican U.S. Sens. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem and Tom Coburn on Thursday unveiled their plan for changing Medicare, the government-run health-care program for seniors. The plan would offer seniors, starting in 2016, the choice to stick with the government-run fee-for-service program, or choose health insurance policies offered by private companies that would bid for the right to participate in the Medicare program. According to Burr, the Seniors’ Choice Act also would: Provide a maximum out-of-pocket protection so that a senior would not have to pay more than $7,500 per year in medical expenses. Gradually raise the age of eligibility for participating in Medicare by two months for each year until age 67, starting with people born in 1949. Gradually increase the premiums on Medicare by an average of 3 percent each year beginning in 2013 so that a 9 percent increase is accomplished by 2016.” [Raleigh News & Observer, 2/18/12]

• Annuity News: Burr’s Proposal For Medicare Included An “Increased Shift Toward More Privatization Of The Medicare Industry.” “Under the legislative proposal put forward by U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., seniors would be limited in how they use private supplemental Medicare insurance and maximum out-of-pocket medical expenses under Medicare Parts A and B would also be limited. The proposal would also increase out-of-pocket requirements for wealthy seniors. But perhaps the biggest change is a provision that would give seniors the right to choose the Medicare plan that best meets their needs. That means that in 2016, there would be an increased shift toward more privatization of the Medicare industry. Traditional Medicare fee-for-service plans and private plans would ‘be forced to compete head-to-head,’ Coburn said in a statement.” [Annuity News, 2/21/12]

• NCPSSM: Burr’s Medicare Privatization Plan “Nothing More Than The GOP/Ryan Plan On Steroids.” “The Coburn/Burr legislation proposed today would: provide seniors a voucher for their health care that could shift a growing share of Medicare costs to beneficiaries without reducing overall costs in the program, undermine traditional Medicare, leave millions of seniors without health coverage in retirement, and raise premiums for middle-class retirees. The Coburn/Burr proposal forces these changes even earlier than the Ryan plan. ‘This latest Medicare privatization scheme is nothing more than the GOP/Ryan plan on steroids. Not only does it promise savings that most private insurers have never achieved in providing coverage to seniors, it also delays healthcare coverage to age 67, and raises premiums for millions of American retirees. Budget hawks keep promising that private market competition will drive down costs yet history proves just the opposite. Private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans have raked in billions of dollars in overpayments in the past decade and seniors, whether they participated in MA or not, paid for those subsidies with higher premiums.” [National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, Press Release, 2/16/12]

• NCPSSM: Burr’s Plan “Doubled Down On Congressman Ryan’s Voucher Plan Offering What Appears To Be The Same Failed Privatization Approach To Medicare Reform.” “Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (RNC) have doubled down on Congressman Ryan’s voucher plan offering what appears to be the same failed privatization approach to Medicare reform that has been rejected by the majority of Americans. The Coburn/Burr legislation proposed today would: provide seniors a voucher for their health care that could shift a growing share of Medicare costs to beneficiaries without reducing overall costs in the program, undermine traditional Medicare, leave millions of seniors without health coverage in retirement, and raise premiums for middle-class retirees. The Coburn/Burr proposal forces these changes even earlier than the Ryan plan.” [National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, Press Release, 2/16/12]

• PolitiFact: “Mostly True” That Proposal To Voucherize Medicare, By Prompting A Shift Toward The Private Sector – Regardless Of Degree, Would “Privatize Medicare.” “It’s true that under the Ryan proposal, the government will retain important duties in running Medicare. But ‘privatization’ does not have to mean that the government has nothing further to do with the enterprise. Under longstanding definitions, privatization could take place without the government giving up its right to regulate a privately provided service, such as an electric utility. That said, we think it’s fair to note that Medicare already provides some types of coverage through private insurance now, so the shift toward the private sector prompted by the Ryan plan would be more a question of degree than kind. On balance, we conclude that the idea that the Paul Ryan budget proposal would ‘privatize Medicare’ is Mostly True.” [PolitiFact, 5/25/11]

V/O: New profits for private insurers would be as high as sixteen to twenty-six billion.

GFX: $16 to $26 billion.

Richard Burr

“new profits for private insurers would be as high as $16 to $26 billion”

-New Republic, 9/8/12

MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION WOULD MEAN UP TO $26 BILLION IN ADDITIONAL PROFIT FOR THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY

Analysis: Under Ryan Budget Medicare Privatization, “By 2030, New Profits For Private Insurers Would Be As High As $16 To $26 Billion.”  “Via e-mail, Cutler told me it’s possible to estimate, roughly, how much the insurers would benefit from this change: ‘According to the CBO, people aged 65 in 2023 (the first year of the voucher) are expected to account for 4 percent of the $1.23 trillion in Medicare spending anticipated in that year. Not all of this revenue would be newly available to private plans; some of these expenditures currently flow through private Part D plans, some of the voucher recipients would have voluntarily chosen to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan anyway, and some would not do so in any case. After making adjustments for the Part D spending and those who would have been in MA already, an estimated $31 billion in Medicare funds would be newly available to private plans in 2023. The GAO has estimated that insurers earn profits of between 4.1% and 6.6% on revenue. Thus, the newly available private insurer revenues would generate private profits of $1.3-$2.1 billion in 2023. These profits would quickly mount. By 2030, new profits for private insurers would be as high as $16 to $26 billion.’” [New Republic, 9/8/12]

• NCPSSM: Burr’s Medicare Privatization Plan “Nothing More Than The GOP/Ryan Plan On Steroids.” “The Coburn/Burr legislation proposed today would: provide seniors a voucher for their health care that could shift a growing share of Medicare costs to beneficiaries without reducing overall costs in the program, undermine traditional Medicare, leave millions of seniors without health coverage in retirement, and raise premiums for middle-class retirees. The Coburn/Burr proposal forces these changes even earlier than the Ryan plan. ‘This latest Medicare privatization scheme is nothing more than the GOP/Ryan plan on steroids. Not only does it promise savings that most private insurers have never achieved in providing coverage to seniors, it also delays healthcare coverage to age 67, and raises premiums for millions of American retirees. Budget hawks keep promising that private market competition will drive down costs yet history proves just the opposite. Private insurers offering Medicare Advantage plans have raked in billions of dollars in overpayments in the past decade and seniors, whether they participated in MA or not, paid for those subsidies with higher premiums.” [National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, Press Release, 2/16/12]

• NCPSSM: Burr’s Plan “Doubled Down On Congressman Ryan’s Voucher Plan Offering What Appears To Be The Same Failed Privatization Approach To Medicare Reform.” “Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK) and Richard Burr (RNC) have doubled down on Congressman Ryan’s voucher plan offering what appears to be the same failed privatization approach to Medicare reform that has been rejected by the majority of Americans. The Coburn/Burr legislation proposed today would: provide seniors a voucher for their health care that could shift a growing share of Medicare costs to beneficiaries without reducing overall costs in the program, undermine traditional Medicare, leave millions of seniors without health coverage in retirement, and raise premiums for middle-class retirees. The Coburn/Burr proposal forces these changes even earlier than the Ryan plan.” [National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare, Press Release, 2/16/12]

V/O: But seniors would pay nine percent more for Medicare.

GFX: Richard Burr

Seniors Pay 9 Percent More For Medicare

-Winston Salem Journal, 2/18/12

V/O: Richard Burr is looking out for himself and the insurance industry, not you.

GFX: Richard Burr

Looking Out For Himself And The Insurance Industry

BURR MEDICARE PRIVATIZATION PLAN WOULD INCREASE PREMIUMS BY 9 PERCENT

Raleigh News & Observer: Burr Medicare Privatization Plan Contained A “9 Percent Increase” In Medicare Premiums. “Republican U.S. Sens. Richard Burr of Winston-Salem and Tom Coburn on Thursday unveiled their plan for changing Medicare, the government-run health-care program for seniors. The plan would offer seniors, starting in 2016, the choice to stick with the government-run fee for-service program, or choose health insurance policies offered by private companies that would bid for the right to participate in the Medicare program. According to Burr, the Seniors’ Choice Act also would: Provide a maximum out-of-pocket protection so that a senior would not have to pay more than $7,500 per year in medical expenses. Gradually raise the age of eligibility for participating in Medicare by two months for each year until age 67, starting with people born in 1949. Gradually increase the premiums on Medicare by an average of 3 percent each year beginning in 2013 so that a 9 percent increase is accomplished by 2016.” [Winston Salem Journal, 2/18/12]

Kaiser Family Foundation: Burr Medicare Privatization Plan Contained A “9 Percent Increase” In Medicare Premiums. “Burr-Coburn ‘Seniors’ Choice Act’ February 16, 2012 Part B premiums would be increased by 3 percent of Part A and B program costs each year, beginning in 2013, to achieve a 9 percent increase prior to implementation of premium support in 2016. Beneficiaries would pay the difference between the defined federal contribution and the bid for the plan in which they chose to enroll. Unclear how the Part B and Part D formulas would be calculated or applied beginning in 2016.” [Kaiser Family Foundation, 7/26/12]

Burr Medicare Plan Would Raise Standard Medicare Part B Premiums By 9 Percent, Up To Roughly $240 Annually. “Burr–Coburn would raise the standard Medicare Part B premiums from 25 percent to 34 percent of total premium costs over three years. The Senators say that the impact would be on the order of roughly $15 to $20 per month.” [Heritage Foundation, 4/4/12]

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