Wyden-Ryan Medicare Proposal To Use Vickrey Reverse Auction To Control Costs

From The Wall Street Journal, "The Wyden-Ryan Breakthrough
A better, bipartisan Medicare future."

But there are several key changes. Most of the substantive argument turns on how the premium supports should grow over time. Wyden-Ryan would dispose of a predetermined rate—GDP plus 1%, medical inflation, etc.—and instead use competitive bidding. Insurers and traditional Medicare, which would remain intact, would essentially participate in a reverse auction and the second lowest bid would set the benchmark for a given region. Seniors would pay at the margin for more expensive options.