Obama Wants To Cut Medicare & Medicaid

[privateinvestor]

Liberals are not going to be happy campers when they wake up today and read this political headline and I hate to be the one to say " I told you so" and now deal with it....

Obama has to be getting really desperate now to get a deal with the Repubs and save his re election chances in 2012..IMHO



Obama administration officials are offering to cut tens of billions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid in negotiations to reduce the federal budget deficit, but the depth of the cuts depends on whether Republicans are willing to accept any increases in tax revenues.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43635698/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/#

[Politically_Incorrect12]

Might be a decent compromise....as long as it isn't where they raise the taxes and then increase the spending of Medicare/Medicaid within the next couple of years.

[Deleted]

He's just robbing from one pot to put in or start another pot. Then he can claim to have "done" something in his presidency. He is also counting on people being greedy. They want what they want at the expense of others. In that part he is right. If you bet that people in general are greedy, stupid or short sighted you will win most of your bets.

[privateinvestor]

Entitlements have to be cut or else the Repubs will walk away from any deal IMHO

[djAdvocate]

Jul 5, 2011 9:17:24 GMT -5 @privateinvestor said:

Entitlements have to be cut or else the Repubs will walk away from any deal IMHO

i agree.

this is an interesting situation for Obama. he has alienated his base fairly well by proving to be more conservative and hawkish than his campaign slogans would indicate. if he now pulls a Clinton and punctures medicare, he is going to have even more trouble with that base.

then again, his base are not actually swing voters. and the swing voters like medicare cuts.

[privateinvestor]

Jul 5, 2011 11:00:50 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Jul 5, 2011 9:17:24 GMT -5 @privateinvestor said:

Entitlements have to be cut or else the Repubs will walk away from any deal IMHO

i agree.

this is an interesting situation for Obama. he has alienated his base fairly well by proving to be more conservative and hawkish than his campaign slogans would indicate. if he now pulls a Clinton and punctures medicare, he is going to have even more trouble with that base.

then again, his base are not actually swing voters. and the swing voters like medicare cuts.

Pelosi said that cuts to seniors' benefits are "absolutely" off the table in the ongoing deficit reduction negotiations, but suggested that Congress could improve Medicare by working to eliminate fraud and also by giving the Secretary of Health and Human Services unilateral authority to negotiate for lower prices for the endangered entitlement program.

"When you talk about Medicare, the first thing I would do if I ruled the world would be to allow the secretary of HHS to negotiate for lower prices. That would save tens of billions of dollars," Pelosi said. "The last place we need to go -- we don't ever have to go there -- is to what the Republicans are doing: Eliminate Medicare [and] make seniors pay more for less as you give tax breaks to big oil and say that's how we have to reduce the deficit. We don't subscribe to that."

Pelosi said the election in 2012 "is not about Paul Ryan [the architect of the Republicans' budget and Medicare





abcnews.go.com/Politics/exclusive-pelosi-democrats-good-chance-win-back-house/story?id=13737681

[Deleted]

All i see is Democrats willing to negotiate, and Republicans who want to hold on to their tax cuts at all costs...

Thought this was a good summary... www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/opinion/05brooks.html?_r=1

[djAdvocate]

Jul 5, 2011 11:14:15 GMT -5 oped said:

All i see is Democrats willing to negotiate, and Republicans who want to hold on to their tax cuts at all costs...

Thought this was a good summary... www.nytimes.com/2011/07/05/opinion/05brooks.html?_r=1

i think the support for holding the line is much softer than you do, oped. but we shall see.

[privateinvestor]

All Obama has to do is to cave on Tax increases and the White House and Congress may have a deal but remember it is going to take a few weeks to have the CBO score the budget changes and get the final OK...so that means the Powers To Be only have @ two weeks to get a deal on debt reduction....plus Ms Pelosi is not a happy camper she was not given a seat at the table and she told everyone that "cuts to seniors was definitely off the table"....something tells me Ms Pelosi and Mr Obama may not be playing basketball, golf or downing a few brews together anytime soon.... oh well whoever said Obama promised Pelosi a Rose Garden or even invite her to his Rose Garden for beers..??

[ugonow]

The way I read it is Obama will agree to the cuts to medicare republicans want if there are revenue increases. I did not see anywhere it saying he wanted cuts to medicare. Perhaps I read it wrong...

[privateinvestor]

Administration Offers Health Care Cuts as Part of Budget Negotiations

By ROBERT PEAR


WASHINGTON — Obama administration officials are offering to cut tens of billions of dollars from Medicare and Medicaid in negotiations to reduce the federal budget deficit, but the depth of the cuts depends on whether Republicans are willing to accept any increases in tax revenues.

Administration officials and Republican negotiators say the money can be taken from health care providers like hospitals and nursing homes without directly imposing new costs on needy beneficiaries or radically restructuring either program.

Before the talks led by Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. broke off 12 days ago, negotiators said, they had reached substantial agreement on many cuts in the growth of Medicare, which provides care to people 65 and older, and Medicaid, which covers lower-income people. Those proposals are still on the table when Congress reconvenes this week, aides said, and are serious options that Democrats could accept in exchange for Republican concessions that raise revenues.

“Congress smells blood,” said William L. Minnix Jr., the chief lobbyist for nonprofit nursing homes.

Mr. Minnix, the president of a trade group known as LeadingAge, is urging nursing homes to “bombard your senators with the message that Medicaid cannot be cut by $100 billion” over 10 years, as President Obama and many Republican lawmakers have suggested.

A coalition of hospital lobbyists, worried about the direction of the budget talks, has begun a national advertising campaign to block further cuts in the two health care programs, which account for about 55 percent of hospital revenues. The hospitals have made a commitment to spend up to $1 million a week through August on television, print and online advertising.

“This is white-knuckle time for a lot of people,” said Bryant Hall, a health care lobbyist whose clients include drug and biotechnology companies. “Stakeholders and beneficiaries are anxiously watching the budget negotiations.”

They may have reason to be anxious.

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Senate Democrat, said: “We are very willing to entertain savings in Medicare. Medicare gives very good health care very inefficiently.”

In return, Mr. Schumer said, Republicans should be willing to consider some additional revenue.

Negotiators said they were seriously considering cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals for uncollectible patient debt and the training of doctors; steps to eliminate Medicare “overpayments” to nursing homes; a reduction in the federal share of some Medicaid spending; and new restrictions on states’ ability to finance Medicaid by imposing taxes on hospitals and other health care providers.

Medicare and Medicaid insure more than 100 million people, account for 23 percent of all federal spending and are likely to be an important part of any budget deal. Military spending, which accounts for about 20 percent of federal expenditures, is likely to be included as well.

Most Republicans have ruled out tax rate increases to reduce the deficit. Mr. Obama has rejected the idea of Medicare vouchers, Medicaid block grants or any rollback of the new health care law. But he and the Republicans say they still hope to find some common ground.

Mr. Obama has embraced the goal of reducing deficits by a total of $4 trillion over 12 years — an ambitious goal that suggests the size of any grand bargain.

In a speech in April, Mr. Obama offered to slow the growth of Medicare and Medicaid without cutting benefits. He said his ideas would save $340 billion over 10 years and a total of nearly $500 billion in the two programs by 2023. His numbers quickly became a starting point in the negotiations.

As for Medicaid, administration officials have indicated that they could accept savings of $100 billion or more over 10 years, much to the dismay of many House Democrats. The lawmakers say the cuts would impair access to care for the poor and shift costs to the states, which are facing a huge expansion in Medicaid eligibility and enrollment, scheduled to start in 2014 under the new health care law.

While insisting on new revenue at his news conference last week, Mr. Obama also said, “We’ll have to tackle entitlements,” adding that “health care cuts” need to be part of any deal.

Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, the Connecticut independent, described a fiscal and political imperative: “We can’t balance the budget without dealing with mandatory spending programs like Medicare. We can’t save Medicare as we know it. We can save Medicare only if we change it.”

The new health care law trimmed Medicare payments to most providers. Many states, in fiscal distress, are cutting Medicaid, which is financed jointly by the federal government and the states. If Congress and the president now make additional cuts, hospitals say, they will close some services and increase charges to patients with private insurance.

Hospital executives from around the country plan to visit Capitol Hill next week to deliver this message: “Cutting Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals will hurt the ones we love, especially the most vulnerable — children, seniors, the poor and disabled.”

Mr. Minnix, the lobbyist for nonprofit nursing homes, said: “The issue is not money. The issue is the effects on people, vulnerable people.”

The American Medical Association and AARP, the lobby for older Americans, have joined hospitals and nursing homes in fighting other proposals that would limit federal spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product. Members of Congress of both parties have introduced bills that would automatically cut spending across the board if such limits were about to be breached.

While details have yet to be decided, lawmakers and administration officials said they were seriously considering these proposals:

¶ Gradually eliminate Medicare payments to hospitals for bad debts that result when beneficiaries fail to pay deductibles and co-payments. Medicare reimburses hospitals for 70 percent of such debts after the hospitals make reasonable efforts to collect the unpaid amounts.

¶ Reduce Medicare payments to teaching hospitals for the costs of training doctors, caring for sicker patients and providing specialized services like trauma care and organ transplants. Medicare spends $9.5 billion a year for its share of those costs.

¶ Reduce the federal share of payments to health care providers treating low-income people under Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The administration wants to establish a single “blended rate” for each state. The federal government now reimburses states at different rates for different groups of people and different services in the two programs.

Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the senior Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee and an architect of Medicaid, said he was “very concerned” that this proposal would reduce the federal contribution to Medicaid and shift costs to states.







www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43635698/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/#

[ugonow]

"...and are serious options that Democrats could accept in exchange for Republican concessions that raise revenues."

"but the depth of the cuts depends on whether Republicans are willing to accept any increases in tax revenues." Mconnell: No debt deal unless cuts to Medicare are made---www.outsidethebeltway.com/mitch-mcconnell-no-deal-on-debt-ceiling-without-medicare-cuts/

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...fwiw, I am sick and tired of hearing about our "going after fraud" being held hostage or used as a leveraging tool... hello?


...go after fraud because it's fraudulent... period...

[ugonow]

<<<Negotiators said they were seriously considering cuts in Medicare payments to hospitals for uncollectible patient debt and the training of doctors; steps to eliminate Medicare “overpayments” to nursing homes; a reduction in the federal share of some Medicaid spending; and new restrictions on states’ ability to finance Medicaid by imposing taxes on hospitals and other health care providers.>>>>

[privateinvestor]

I have to wonder out loud if this proposal to cut Medicare and Medicaid is a deal maker or not... But I think the repubs may still hold out on raising taxes??? IMHO.....but don't take my word for it because I am just a visitor checking out this board before I decide to become a permanent member here...so far this is a nice low key place with a lot of really friendly people who all get along tremendously and the Mods are very gracious and respectful to those who are not too politically correct..

[handyman2]

Medicare is a program that is full of waste and abuse. They could modernize the system and change the laws on it some and save a lot of money. One classic example is to have a resident city data base so druggies cannot run from hospital to hospital in a city and get free pain pills. The friday and saturday drug route as some call it.

[Phoenix84]

"A coalition of hospital lobbyists, worried about the direction of the budget talks, has begun a national advertising campaign to block further cuts in the two health care programs, which account for about 55 percent of hospital revenues."

To me, this just means that the two parograms are too big and must be cut. When more than half of the revenue for hospitals comes from medicare and medicaide you have a problem. We aren't going to fix our budget problems without tackeling the "big 4" Social Security, Medicare, Medicaide, and defense. Those things are the real budget busters.

[zibazinski]

I'm all for cutting Medicaid because no one should get for free what others have to pay for.

[djAdvocate]

Jul 5, 2011 14:17:41 GMT -5 @privateinvestor said:

I have to wonder out loud if this proposal to cut Medicare and Medicaid is a deal maker or not... But I think the repubs may still hold out on raising taxes??? IMHO.....but don't take my word for it because I am just a visitor checking out this board before I decide to become a permanent member here...so far this is a nice low key place with a lot of really friendly people who all get along tremendously and the Mods are very gracious and respectful to those who are not too politically correct..

if he manages to cut medicare and raise taxes, he will have performed three miracles in his first term.

[zipity]

The cuts offered by the white house are little more, $10 billion/year, than what exists in the healthcare bill. Increase efficiencies, decrease fraud and renegotiate prices with providers. The pubs on the other hand are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. The only thing that's off the table is not raising the debt ceiling. If the pubs allow the US to default on payments, their party will be crucified in the Nov'12 elections. Raise taxes from the lowest point as a percentage of GDP since 1944, cut fraud, renegotiate prices and maintain benefit levels. Done and Done.

[privateinvestor]

Ok Obama may want to cut Medicare and Medicaid but will both houses of congress go along with him on this one??

[jkapp]

Jul 5, 2011 14:06:32 GMT -5 BeenThere...DoneThat... said:

...fwiw, I am sick and tired of hearing about our "going after fraud" being held hostage or used as a leveraging tool... hello?


...go after fraud because it's fraudulent... period...

Exactly...how is it a negotiation to offer to do something they were SUPPOSED to be doing in the first place???

[privateinvestor]

What about going after all the fraud in our Federal and State Governments??...In CA we have @500 state employees who were paid more than $240,000 in 2010 according to the CA Controller's new data but he refuses to name the employees and nine earned more than $500,000 last year..the top ten earned $5.8 million ..

The media will be checking into this as they did in 2009 to root our the corrupt city managers in Bell CA..The CA State Univ system has some who earned @ @$400,000.00 last year and they just voted to increase tuition at state colleges in CA..

[billisonboard]

Jul 6, 2011 8:37:25 GMT -5 @privateinvestor said:

What about going after all the fraud in our Federal and State Governments??...In CA we have @500 state employees who were paid more than $240,000 in 2010 according to the CA Controller's new data but he refuses to name the employees and nine earned more than $500,000 last year..the top ten earned $5.8 million ..

The media will be checking into this as they did in 2009 to root our the corrupt city managers in Bell CA..The CA State Univ system has some who earned @ @$400,000.00 last year and they just voted to increase tuition at state colleges in CA..

The other major area of fraud that we need to attack is individuals and corporations ripping us off through our government.

[privateinvestor]

The other major area of fraud that we need to attack is individuals and corporations ripping us off through our government.

The problem is nobody is watching the Federal and State workers who are earing megabucks other than the media...i.e in Bell CA there were city managers taking home @$780,000.00 per year for a few years and nobody in Sacramento CA knew about it...why? States and cities cannot afford to track corruption that goes on under their very noses, or they could care less..

[reasonfreedom]

I hope he follows through, it is not so much as it needs to be cut it needs to be reformed. I agree with the fraudulent comments here 100%. Here are a few things we can do to medicare to cut cost.

- Put a cap on federal health care cost(medicare)
- Raise premiums for Part B and D
- Gradually Raise the eligibility age for medicare

If you think about it, the greater the growth of the population the greater the cost of medicare. Also the higher the life expectancy the longer people will be on medicare.

[billisonboard]

Jul 6, 2011 8:51:48 GMT -5 @privateinvestor said:

The other major area of fraud that we need to attack is individuals and corporations ripping us off through our government.

The problem is nobody is watching the Federal and State workers who are earing megabucks other than the media...i.e in Bell CA there were city managers taking home @$780,000.00 per year for a few years and nobody in Sacramento CA knew about it...why? States and cities cannot afford to track corruption that goes on under their very noses, or they could care less..

I would say you have identified "a" problem. This is also a problem:

On Thursday, Gumer, 64, of Tamarac pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud for his critical role in a massive, $200 million scheme. The racket enabled Miami-based American Therapeutic Corp. to bill the government program for psychotherapy that was unnecessary for thousands of patients who faked suffering from depression, schizophrenia or bipolar conditions.

Read more: www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/30/2293311/south-florida-psychiatrist-to.html#ixzz1RKlJ3g7yl

[Politically_Incorrect12]

Jul 6, 2011 9:00:12 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

I hope he follows through, it is not so much as it needs to be cut it needs to be reformed. I agree with the fraudulent comments here 100%. Here are a few things we can do to medicare to cut cost.

- Put a cap on federal health care cost(medicare)
- Raise premiums for Part B and D
- Gradually Raise the eligibility age for medicare

If you think about it, the greater the growth of the population the greater the cost of medicare. Also the higher the life expectancy the longer people will be on medicare.

Interesting that when a private company does this, they are called greedy. I also don't see the lifespan going higher with the obesity issue

[billisonboard]

Jul 6, 2011 9:09:52 GMT -5 Politically_Incorrect12 said:

Jul 6, 2011 9:00:12 GMT -5 reasonfreedom said:

I hope he follows through, it is not so much as it needs to be cut it needs to be reformed. I agree with the fraudulent comments here 100%. Here are a few things we can do to medicare to cut cost.

- Put a cap on federal health care cost(medicare)
- Raise premiums for Part B and D
- Gradually Raise the eligibility age for medicare

If you think about it, the greater the growth of the population the greater the cost of medicare. Also the higher the life expectancy the longer people will be on medicare.

Interesting that when a private company does this, they are called greedy. ...

It depends on where dollars saved end up. If our government officials were to get multi-million dollar bonuses as a reward for this action, I would consider them greedy also.

[reasonfreedom]

Jul 6, 2011 9:15:05 GMT -5 billisonboard said:

Jul 6, 2011 9:09:52 GMT -5 Politically_Incorrect12 said:

Interesting that when a private company does this, they are called greedy. ...

It depends on where dollars saved end up. If our government officials were to get multi-million dollar bonuses as a reward for this action, I would consider them greedy also.

I actually think politicians should take pay/benefit cuts. I also think that some of those CEO\VP's should not get those huge bonuses, especially after their greed being a cause of breaking the financial system and hurting main street. I think the employees should take action and make that happens, the same way i think voters should make the politicians take cuts as well.