New York, NY –
As Congress debates healthcare reform, some Democrats are saying there’s already a “public plan” in place that satisfies many Americans – namely Medicare. But Congressman Scott Garrett, a Republican from northern New Jersey, says the government-backed medical coverage for the elderly is doing a bad job. He says it should not be a model for broader coverage, in part, because it pays providers too little.
GARRETT: A lot of doctors who have been in the business and who’re getting out of the business say, "I can’t make any money on this. I'm not gonna shift any more. I’m gonna get out of the business."
Garrett told WNYC’s Brian Lehrer that private insurers have much higher administrative costs than Medicare, because they provide much more helpful consumer information than the government does.
Garrett says most people tell him they want less government involvement in healthcare, not more.
Fred Mogul has been covering healthcare and medicine for WNYC since 2002. His beat takes him to hospitals, community clinics, doctors offices, health agencies, public schools and research labs across the metropolitan area. His work has appeared on NPR and in the New York Times, Time magazine and Philadelphia Inquirer, among others.
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