Three Common Mistakes About GOP Medicare Plan

[lakhota]

Three Most Common Mistakes Made By So-Called Fact Checkers When Assessing GOP’s Medicare Plan

MISTAKE #1: The GOP Plan Doesn't End Medicare

MISTAKE #2: The GOP Budget Does Not Cut Benefits For Current Seniors

MISTAKE #3: The GOP Plan Preserves Medicare For Current Seniors

Details: tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/democratic-attacks-on-gop-budget-unfairly-pilloried-by-independent-fact-checkers.php?ref=fpb

[NoMoreLunacy]

GOP is gone. No one messes with Medicare. Question is how many house and senate seats will the Medicare issue pick up.

[vonnie6200]

Obamacare messes with Medicare

[lakhota]

Top 6 Health Care Myths From Yesterday’s Republican Presidential Debate…In One Minute

The seven Republicans who took part in yesterday’s presidential debate in New Hampshire all promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act without offering alternatives for expanding access to insurance or lowering health care costs. Instead, the GOP fudged the facts of the law and stood by Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) proposal to privatize the Medicare program. Below is a one minute compilation of the GOP’s top six health care myths and the facts that undermine their claims:

– CLAIM 1 FROM BACHMANN: The Congressional Budget Office said the Affordable Care Act will kill 800,000 jobs. FACT: The CBO actually found that some people would leave the workforce or work less because they can find affordable health coverage elsewhere. This is a reduction in the supply of labor, not a reduction in the supply of jobs.

– CLAIM 2 FROM BACHMANN: Obamacare took $500 billion out of Medicare, shifted it to build a new entitlement for young people. FACT: The health law does not cut the current Medicare budget; it slows the growth in the program by removing $500 billion from future spending over the next 10 years. The cuts help stabilize Medicare by eliminating overpayments and slowly phasing in payment adjustments that encourage greater efficiency. As a result, the law extends the life of the Medicare trust fund by nine years and allows seniors to retain all of their guaranteed Medicare benefits.

– CLAIM 3 FROM ROMNEY: I would issue an executive order paving the way for Obamacare waivers to all 50 states. FACT: The executive branch and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) don’t have the authority to grant blanket waivers — those powers are reserved for Congress.

– CLAIM 4 FROM PAWLENTY: Medicare is not financially solvent. FACT: Medicare is fully solvent until 2024. After 2024, the hospital fund will still be able to meet “90 percent” of its commitments.

– CLAIM 5 FROM SANTORUM: Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan is “identical to what seniors already have” — Medicare Part D. FACT: It’s not. The government pays 74 percent of costs in Medicare Part D and grows that support at the rate of program costs. “Ryan’s plan covers about a third of beneficiary costs, and that support grows at the rate of inflation — so much more slowly than the rest of the program, or than Medicare Part D.”

– CLAIM 6 FROM SANTORUM: The Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) will ration care to seniors beginning in 2014. FACT: The IPAB kicks in if health care spending goes beyond a certain threshold and is statutorily prohibited from rationing benefits or increasing co-pays. In fact, Paul Ryan even supported a more aggressive IPAB-type reform in 2009.

thinkprogress.org/health/2011/06/14/244360/top-6-health-care-myths-from-yesterdays-republican-presidential-debate-in-one-minute/

[lakhota]

delete duplicate post

[NoMoreLunacy]

Jun 14, 2011 17:07:35 GMT -5 vonnie6200 said:

Obamacare messes with Medicare

That is true indeed. If I were the lead GOP strategist I would hit the Dems hard for gutting Medicare. Instead the Repubs went for gutting Medicare themselves. When will they learn that people in this country conservative or liberal all love their safety nets, and the vast majority don't even care if taxes are raised on the rich to pay for it?

[lakhota]

Does Obamacare really cut Medicare Benefits to Senior Citizens?

Among the many narratives injected into the public debate over health care reform, I find the most disturbing to be the notion that our senior citizens will experience cuts in their Medicare benefits as a result of Obamacare.

Despite the ‘doom and gloom’ predictions you may have heard, the proposed savings in Medicare are designed to come from two sources; (a) a crackdown on Medicare fraud, estimated to currently cost the federal government as much as $60 billion per year and (b) a reduction in what is paid to the Medicare Advantage programs offered by private insurance companies.

As you may be under the impression that the legislation will cut payments to physicians by 21% and institute draconian cuts in payments to hospitals, let’s set the record straight on this at the outset so we can dispose of this bit of disinformation.

Physicians have faced a 21% cut in payment from Medicare long before Obama became president and, thus, long before health care reform was more than a gleam in the eye of its proponents.

The threatened cuts are the result of a formula (“SGI”) established during the Clinton years that was designed to control the rate of growth in Medicare payments to physicians. The problem is that nobody anticipated that the number would go down. As a result of the decrease, and the understandable displeasure expressed by America’s doctors, Congress would end each year by deferring the cuts until they added up the 21% cut doctors now fear. Note that this number did not arise as a result of a stroke of the president’s pen as Obamacare detractors would have you believe. It was the constant deferral by Congress, dating back to 2002, that has permitted the number to reach this point.

The deferment is still the order of the day. While Congress has been afraid to permanently get rid of the threatened cut (they still figure in the total value of the cut in reaching their government healthcare expenditure numbers) and toss out the formula that failed to work as planned, the cut continues to be deferred. You can expect this to continue until Congress eventually gets rid of the entire mess as there are few Democrats or Republicans in Congress willing to do the damage that would be done by actually instituting these cuts.

It simply isn’t going to happen.

As for the hospitals, any cuts they will experience – estimated to be $155 billion over 10 years – are the direct result of negotiation and agreement between the Administration and the Hospital Associations. Nobody cut anything that the hospitals were not willing to accept as both reasonable and ‘doable’.

Lets move on to the real issues.

Much More: blogs.forbes.com/rickungar/2010/09/25/does-obamacare-really-cut-medicare-benefits-to-senior-citizens/

[EVT1]

You didn't expect them to tell the truth did you? They all hitched up to Ryan's sinking ship and will be reminded about it regularly through 2012. Good riddance!

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

I pity the fools who refuse to come to grips with the fact that medicare and medicaid are both bankrupt and facings $85 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

There are only two choices. 1. Face small cuts. 2. Both programs get completely eliminated.

[NoMoreLunacy]

Jun 14, 2011 17:35:24 GMT -5 EVT1 said:

You didn't expect them to tell the truth did you? They all hitched up to Ryan's sinking ship and will be reminded about it regularly through 2012. Good riddance!

If Democrats have one ounce of political sense they will juice this in attack ads for the next 18 months and get a super majority.

[NoMoreLunacy]

Jun 14, 2011 17:37:39 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

I pity the fools who refuse to come to grips with the fact that medicare and medicaid are both bankrupt and facings $85 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

There are only two choices. 1. Face small cuts. 2. Both programs get completely eliminated.

Go ahead. Run on it and let the people know what Republicans truly believe in.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

Go ahead. Run on it and let the people know what Republicans truly believe in.


Both programs are bankrupt. The US does not have enough net worth to make a dent in the costs both programs face.

[NoMoreLunacy]

Does Obamacare really cut Medicare Benefits to Senior Citizens?

Lakhota, I would keep that under wraps. If I were a Republican strategist I could run with that message and totally convince voters that Dems are out to gut Medicare. Medicare is a sacred cow. I would not mess with any aspect of it. Seniors vote more than any other population.

[NoMoreLunacy]

Jun 14, 2011 17:40:24 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Go ahead. Run on it and let the people know what Republicans truly believe in.


Both programs are bankrupt. The US does not have enough net worth to make a dent in the costs both programs face.

Why are you not running?

[NoMoreLunacy]

This message has been deleted.

[lakhota]

Jun 14, 2011 17:40:24 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

Go ahead. Run on it and let the people know what Republicans truly believe in.


Both programs are bankrupt. The US does not have enough net worth to make a dent in the costs both programs face.

More loose canon rhetoric as usual...

[handyman2]

Lakhota I must disagree with you on one point. The others I am not sure about. I get a report on what the government pays. The government by what ever means that it works on has cut payments to doctors. Correct me if I am missing something here but the same procedure done in 2001 the government paid 46 percent. In 2010 the government paid 26 percent for the same basic procedure. Like I say there is a lot I do not know about it all but that looks like a cut to me.

[NoMoreLunacy]

Jun 14, 2011 19:16:36 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

Lakhota I must disagree with you on one point. The others I am not sure about. I get a report on what the government pays. The government by what ever means that it works on has cut payments to doctors. Correct me if I am missing something here but the same procedure done in 2001 the government paid 46 percent. In 2010 the government paid 26 percent for the same basic procedure. Like I say there is a lot I do not know about it all but that looks like a cut to me.

You don't like cost control?

[lakhota]

Jun 14, 2011 19:16:36 GMT -5 handyman2 said:

Lakhota I must disagree with you on one point. The others I am not sure about. I get a report on what the government pays. The government by what ever means that it works on has cut payments to doctors. Correct me if I am missing something here but the same procedure done in 2001 the government paid 46 percent. In 2010 the government paid 26 percent for the same basic procedure. Like I say there is a lot I do not know about it all but that looks like a cut to me.

handyman2, I am certainly no expert on the subject, but I suspect this may have to do with the Sustainable Grow Rate (SGR) formula for payment to doctors for Medicare patients, which has been in effect long before Obama took office. Here are some links if you're interested:

The Sustainable Growth Rate Formula and Health Reform

www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3166

Medicare SGR Fix: Closer Than Ever Before

texasjournalofchiropractic.eznuz.com/article/Featured_News/News_from_the_Feds/Medicare_SGR_Fix_Closer_Than_Ever_Before/24223

Recurring SGR Mess: Medicare Doctor Payment Formula Flawed

www.realhealthreformonline.com/2010/06/30/recurring-sgr-mess-medicare-doctor-payment-formula-flawed/

[formerexpat]

You don't like cost control?

Don't know the definition of cost control?

When the government doesn't reimburse the actual cost, doctors will begin accepting less and less government patients as there is only so much they can make up via over billing other customers / private insurance.

Decreasing payments when actual costs aren't being reduced isn't cost control. If you go to a restaurant and get a bill for $200, leave a $100 bill and walk out - that's not cost control either. Do you understand that example a bit better?