Average Retiree Health Care Costs Consumed by Social Security

I read an Investment News article dated April 17, 2014 that provides:  “Retirement health care costs will increase from 69% of Social Security benefits for a couple retiring next year to 98% of Social Security benefits for a healthy couple retiring 10 years from now, according to the [Retirement Health Care Cost] index.”   So, the entitlements/health care plot gets even more murky.  Clearly, we must reduce entitlements (as they now consume more than half of the budget and will continue to grow at a dramatic pace due to retirement of the baby boomers), and we must use market forces to produce competition in health care to get the costs under control.  The best way I can think of doing so for the private sector is to eliminate tax subsidies (such as income tax deductions) for health care coverage that does not provide significant incentive for individuals to control costs.   In other words, a “Cadillac plan” should not produce any tax benefits whatsoever.  In contrast, high deductible health plans and related HSA accounts should be tax deductible (as they now are, generally speaking).  I believe high deductible health plans need to be tweaked so that deductibles, etc. better reflect ability to pay.  Also, co-insurance or co-pays need to be part of every health care purchase.  Again, amounts payable by the covered individual/family need to be tweaked to vary by ability to pay, etc.