Obama Win Would Turn Medicare Into Medicaid: Critic
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Should President Obama be re-elected, he will turn Medicare into Medicaid, Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute said Thursday on CNBC.
“President Obama’s proposing to cap the rate of growth in Medicare to inflation plus 0.5 percent,” he said on “Fast Money.”
Obamacare critic Gottlieb said that the administration would accomplish those cuts by cutting reimbursement rates to health care providers, essentially “crossing Medicaid reimbursement rates. That’s what they’re proposing.”
Republican challenger Mitt Romney’s proposal would also “put Medicare on a budget,” he added.
The difference is that instead of appointing a federal board to cut reimbursement rates, the Republican plan would provide a voucher plan for seniors that would “basically give them money and allow them to go into the market and purchase insurance plans, much the way they do under the Medicare Advantage plan.
“The presumption is that insurance plans will compete to offer maximum benefits to stay within that budget, if you will,” he said.
WellPoint, Aetna and UnitedHealth closed higher.
Drakon Capital’s Guy Adami liked Tenet Healthcare.
“I think THC is a name that could have some momentum behind it,” he said.
Keith McCullough noted that some stocks in the health care sector were parabolic and “not priced for no risk.”
Karen Finerman of Metropolitan Capital Advisors raised a question.
“I do wonder, though, how each state having their own process could be more efficient — 50 times of government entities vs. one,” she said.
Trader disclosure: On Oct. 11, 2012, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC’s “Fast Money” were owned by the “Fast Money” traders: Guy Adami is long C; Guy Adami is long GS; Guy Adami is long INTC; Guy Adami is long AGU; Guy Adami is long MSFT; Guy Adami is long NUE; Guy Adami is long BTU; Karen Finerman is long AAPL ; Karen Finerman is long BAC CALLS; Karen Finerman is long AAPL PUT SPREADS; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long JPM CALL SPREADS; Karen Finerman is longWMT; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long MSFT; Karen Finerman is long GOOG; Karen Finerman is long RLGY; Karen Finerman is long JCP; Karen Finerman is short JCP PUTS; Karen Finerman is short SPY; Karen Finerman is short IWM; Karen Finerman is short MDY; Keith McCullough is long GLD; Keith McCullough is long XLU; Dan Nathan is long AAPL; Dan Nathan is long WFC; Dan Nathan is long MS; Dan Nathan is long YHOO; Dan Nathan is long FB; Dan Nathan is long MSFT; Dan Nathan is long AMZN; Dan Nathan is long AAPL OCT 700 CALLS; Dan Nathan is long WFC JAN 38 CALLS; Dan Nathan is long MS JAN 10 PUTS; Dan Nathan is long YHOO JAN 17.5 CALLS; Dan Nathan is long FB NOV/JAN 22 CALL SPREAD; Dan Nathan is long MSFT OCT 30/28 PUT SPREAD; Dan Nathan is long PCS NOV 11/14 RISK REVERSAL.
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