U.S. Senate Candidate Tommy Thompson R WI Can’t Detail New Medicare Plan Until He Uses ‘The Computers’ In Congress 20OCT12

tommy thompson r WI just thinks people should trust him on his Medicare proposal because it is coming from him, no need to sweat the little things, like the details. I hope the voters in Wisconsin aren't that stupid.......

By Igor Volsky

Tommy Thompson

U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Thompson unveiled a new Medicare reform plan during an interview with the Wisconsin State Journal editorial board on Friday, though he didn’t know if the proposal would reduce federal spending or substantially lower costs for beneficiaries. Thompson’s idea, which he said has been already introduced and advanced “by somebody else,” barrows from Paul Ryan’s premium support model, and would allow seniors to find private coverage. But rather than building a new exchange of private plans, as Ryan has proposed, Thompson would give future retirees access to the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan (FEHB) — a program through which private insurers market health plans to federal employees.
Pressed for more specifics, the former governor and Health and Human Services Secretary grew agitated and admitted that he couldn’t be sure that the proposal would reduce spending. He promised to “use the computers” in Congress to run the numbers, adding, “It’s a plan that I believe more than likely will work”:

Q: So either CBO has scored it out and you haven’t, or you…
THOMPSON: I haven’t scored it out, I have no capabilities…
Q: You’re saying that CBO has looked at your plan….
THOMPSON: They have not looked at my plan. They have looked at a plan similar to this that was put in by…Dee, I’m telling you, I have not scored it. I’m laying the plan out to save Medicare….This is a plan by Paul Ryan, I’ve modified it. I think my plan is better…. When I’m elected to the United States Senate, I have a chance to use the computers and have the access to CBO and I’ll be able to make the necessary things. I’m talking conceptually, about an idea out there that has been advanced by somebody else and I think it makes a lot of sense.
Q: So if you haven’t scored it and you don’t know how much it’s going to save, how do you know it’s going to be a big advance?
THOMPSON: Because Medicare is going broke and we have to do something about it. It’s a plan, Dee. It’s a plan that I believe more than likely will work.

Watch it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w7wZS2xxJqc
Thompson’s idea shares some similarities with Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-KY) recently introduced Congressional Health Care For Seniors Act, but closely resembles Ryan’s proposal. Ryan’s plan is estimated to significantly increase costs for existing seniors and future enrollees.
Though Thompson claimed that FEHBP could save money, traditional Medicare has done a better job of controlling costs, spending just 2 percent on administrative costs, while private plans in the FEHBP devote 7 to 12 percent to overhead. Medicare’s spending per beneficiary has also increased at a slower rate than the FEHBP’s.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/10/20/1054131/us-senate-candidate-cant-detail-new-medicare-plan-until-he-uses-the-computers-in-congress/

Tommy Thompson Hides Past Support For Obamacare 5SEP12 & Tommy Thompson: GOP Governors Should Implement Health Care Exchanges 28JUN11

For some reason Wisconsin gop / tea-bagger politicians have a problem with telling the truth. If tommy thompson r WI candidate has changed his mind on the Affordable Care Act / Obamacare he should say that, but no, he decides to lie and say he didn't support it. Check this out from ThinkProgress...

Former Gov. Tommy Thompson (R-WI)

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) is again denying his previous support for much of the Affordable Care Act. Nancy-Ann DeParle, President Obama’s healthcare adviser, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Tuesday that Thompson had been a key backer of the law’s implementation prior to his current Senate campaign. He is the Republican nominee against Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D) for the open seat of retiring Sen. Herb Kohl (D). The paper reports Thompson attended a high-profile implementation strategy meeting, two years ago:

“He was, from what we could tell, working toward implementation,” DeParle said. “I’m not going to say that he agreed with every single provision that ended up in the law – I won’t say that. But he was very helpful in implementation and we asked for his help and he said he would help us.
“Then I don’t know, he decided he’s not for it now but he certainly was then. . . . He seems to have swerved to the right,” she said.

Thompson’s campaign immediately disputed the characterization, claiming he has “has always opposed Obamacare.” A year ago, Thompson told ABC News ” I did not support Obamacare. I’ve come out against Obamacare time and time again.”
But last June, in a Huffington Post editorial, Thompson urged Republican governors to adopt the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance exchanges. Last April, he lauded Obamacare’s payment reform provisions, saying they give “great discretion” for exermination with “alternative payment systems.” He even tried to dissuade Republicans from repealing the measure, telling CNBC in November 2010, “When it’s all said and done, you’re not going to be able to repeal health care because President Obama is not going to sign it… And they don’t have enough votes to override a veto, so why push a cart uphill when you know it’s not going to be able to get to the top?”
Thompson is now apparently eager to “push a cart uphill” — his campaign website lists “repealing Obamacare and replacing it with market-based solutions” among his top legislative priorities.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/09/05/800171/tommy-thompson-hides-past-support-for-obamacare/

Tommy Thompson: GOP Governors Should Implement Health Care Exchanges

By Igor Volsky on Jun 28, 2011

Former Wisconsin Gov. and Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson (R) has long been out of step with today’s conservative Republican orthodoxy. He’s supported the individual mandate, argued against repealing the Affordable Care Act and even opposed portions of the Paul Ryan budget. Now, this potential GOP Senate candidate is going a step further, calling on Republican governors to implement the health care exchanges that are part of the Affordable Care Act:

I am writing to suggest that governors of both political parties have tremendous opportunity to use free market principles and set up health insurance exchanges which work and give constituents freedom of choice. There is a lot of discussion about health insurance exchanges as it relates to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Some governors have a negative opinion of insurance exchanges and I believe that by doing so they are giving up a tremendous opportunity to use marketplace choice and allow insurance companies to compete in their respective states. It would be a terrible mistake to have governors give up that opportunity to set up exchanges and forfeit that opportunity back to the federal government which would limit states’ rights and their constituents’ ability to pick and choose the best insurance for themselves and their families.

Now to be clear, Thompson isn’t proposing that Republicans adopt the kind of robust insurance exchanges that Massachusetts and California are pursing — exchanges that act as a prudent purchasers and negotiate price and coverage on behalf of their beneficiaries. He’s calling for something far milder. It’s a model that many Republicans have supported in the past, one that’s rooted in Utah’s flea market-like exchange where any insurance company can offer a plan and consumers could potentially be suckered into some fairly inefficient and costly coverage. That’s a far less effective approach — the Massachusetts Connector has connected about 217,000 people to coverage while Utah’s exchange reached 3,583 enrollees — but at least it’s some kind of start towards implement the health care law rather than resisting it.
And Thompson offers one final warning: “If states do not build an exchange, the Affordable Care Act requires that the Federal government step in and run the exchange…If you give control of the exchange to the Federal government, you also give them control of the Federal Medicaid grant program. Do we really need to provide the Federal government day-to-day control into the largest liability items on the state budget?” That’s a question some Republican governors already know the answer to.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2011/06/28/255762/tommy-thompson-gop-governors-should-implement-health-care-exchanges/