New Study: Dems’ Brutal Medicare Cuts to Pay For ObamaCare Hit Your Hometown

New Study: Dems’ Brutal Medicare Cuts to Pay For ObamaCare Hit Your Hometown

Democrats’ Constituents are About to Learn the Local Impact of the Democrats’ Medicare Cuts to Pay for ObamaCare 

• A new study breaks down the local impact of the cuts Democrats made to Medicare in order to pay for ObamaCare, putting Democrats once again on the hot seat to explain to their constituents why they wanted to cut Medicare to pay for a government takeover of healthcare that no one wanted.

• One example of the terrible effects of the Democrats’ Medicare cuts is the cuts to Medicare Advantage, forcing many seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage to lose their current healthcare plans.

• The Democrats also empowered a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats  called IPAB to gut Medicare, despite protests from doctors, and want to let IPAB put seniors’ Medicare benefits at risk.

A new study breaks down the local impact of the cuts Democrats made to Medicare in order to pay for ObamaCare, putting Democrats once again on the hot seat to explain to their constituents why they wanted to cut Medicare to pay for a government takeover of healthcare that no one wanted:

DEMOCRATS RAIDED MORE THAN $700 BILLION FROM MEDICARE TO PAY FOR OBAMACARE:(Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,”Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012)

NEW STUDY BREAKS DOWN OBAMACARE’S $716 IN MEDICARE CUTS BY CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT: (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

SOME OF THE TOP OFFENDERS:

DCCC CHAIRMAN STEVE ISRAEL (NY-03)CUT $1.92 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

DEMOCRAT LEADER NANCY PELOSI (CA-12) CUT $1.3 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HER DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. JOHN TIERNEY (MA-06)CUT $1.68 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. BETTY SUTTON (OH-16) CUT $1.49 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HER DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. NICK RAHALL (WV-03) CUT $1.47 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. KATHY HOCHUL (NY-27) CUT $1.49 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HER DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. TIM BISHOP (NY-01) CUT $1.5 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. MARK CRITZ (PA-12) CUT $1.81 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT.(“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. LOIS CAPPS (CA-24) CUT $1.09 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HER DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (RI-01) CUT $1.13 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. JOHN BARROW (GA-12) CUT $1.06 BILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT. (“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

REP. ED PERLMUTTER (CO-07) CUT $999 MILLION FROM MEDICARE IN HIS DISTRICT.(“ObamaCare Cuts $700 Billion from Medicare,” American Action Network, 9/10/2012)

One example of the terrible effects of the Democrats’ Medicare cuts is the cuts to Medicare Advantage, forcing many seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage to lose their current healthcare plans:

CBO: $156 BILLION IN CUTS TO MEDICARE ADVANTAGE, $20 BILLION HIGHER THAN FIRST ESTIMATE: (Douglas Elmendorf, “Letter to the Honorable John Boehner,” Congressional Budget Office, 7/24/2012)

MEDICARE ACTUARY: CURRENT SENIORS—AT LEAST 7.4 MILLION OF THEM—WILL LOSE MEDICARE ADVANTAGE DUE TO OBAMACARE: “The new provisions will generally reduce MA [Medicare Advantage] rebates to plans and thereby result in less generous benefit packages. We estimate that in 2017, when MA provisions will be fully phased in, enrollment in MA plans will be lower by about 50 percent (from its projected level of 14.8 million under the prior law to 7.4 million under the new law).” (Richard S. Foster, “Estimated Financial Effects of the ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as Amended,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 4/22/2010)

ONE-QUARTER OF SENIORS GET MEDICARE BENEFITS THROUGH MEDICARE ADVANTAGE: “Another $136 billion comes from reducing payments to private Medicare Advantage health plans, through which about one-quarter of seniors get Medicare benefits.” (Marilyn Werber Serafini, “Some Hill Races Hinge on Seniors’ Anger Over Medicare,” Kaiser Health News, 10/26/2010)

CUTS TO MEDICARE ADVANTAGE WILL “CAUSE MILLIONS OF SENIOR CITIZENS AND DISABLED AMERICANS TO LOSE BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN HEALTH CARE SERVICES”: “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA)[1] will cause millions of senior citizens and disabled Americans to lose billions of dollars in health care services every year by substantially reducing payments to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans.” (Robert A. Book and James C. Capretta, “Reductions in Medicare Advantage Payments: The Impact on Seniors by Region,” The Heritage Foundation, 9/14/2010)

STUDY: CUTS WILL “FORCE SENIORS TO PAY $3,700 MORE FOR THEIR HEALTHCARE BY 2017”: (Robert A. Book and James C. Capretta, “Reductions in Medicare Advantage Payments: The Impact on Seniors by Region,” The Heritage Foundation, 9/14/2010; James Capretta, “President Obama’s $700 Billion Medicare Problem,” National Review, 8/15/2012)

The Democrats also empowered a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats  called IPAB to gut Medicare, despite protests from doctors, and want to let IPAB put seniors’ Medicare benefits at risk:

“OBAMACARE’S $716 BILLION IN CUTS WILL DRIVE DOCTORS OUT OF MEDICARE”: “Of the $716 billion that the Affordable Care Act cuts from the program over the next ten years, the largest chunk—$415 billion—comes from slashing Medicare’s reimbursement rates to doctors, hospitals, and nursing homes. This significant reduction in fees is driving many doctors to stop accepting new Medicare patients, making it harder for seniors to gain access to needed care.” (Avik Roy, “How ObamaCare’s $716 Billion in Cuts Will Drive Doctors Out of Medicare,” Forbes, 8/20/2012)

AMERICAN UROLOGICAL ASSOCIATION: DOCTORS WILL “OPT OUT OF THE MEDICARE PROGRAM OR BE DRIVEN OUT OF PRACTICE ALTOGETHER”: “He warned, ‘These cuts could be driven so low that physicians will be forced to limit the number of Medicare beneficiaries they see, opt out of the Medicare program, or be driven out of practice altogether.’” (Ralph Lindeman, “IPAB Would Reduce Access to Care, Witnesses Tell Ways and Means Panel,” Bloomberg, 3/7/2012) 

DOCTOR AND PATIENT GROUPS: IPAB’S CUTS “WOULD LEAD TO A REDUCTION IN ACCESS TO CARE”: “The Independent Payment Advisory Board, created under the health care law to help control Medicare costs, lacks flexibility to do much more than cut provider payments that would lead to a reduction in access to care, witnesses told a House Ways and Means panel March 6.” (Ralph Lindeman, “IPAB Would Reduce Access to Care, Witnesses Tell Ways and Means Panel,” Bloomberg, 3/7/2012) 

12,000 DOCTORS OF AMERICAN PODIATRIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION: IPAB WILL “SEVERELY LIMIT MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES’ ACCESS TO CARE” AND “INCREASE HEALTH-CARE COSTS”: “[Our] members believe that the ill-conceived Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) contained in the Affordable Care Act will not only severely limit Medicare beneficiaries’ access to care but also increase health-care costs that are shifted onto the private sector.” (Michael J. King, American Podiatric Medical Association,” Letter to House Energy & Commerce Committee, 2/28/2012)

AMERICAN OSTEOPATHIC ASSOCIATION: CONCERNS THAT “QUALITY CARE FOR OUR PARENTS WILL BE JEOPARDIZED”: “We are concerned that, by removing Congressional authority over the Medicare payment system and placing such unprecedented authority in an unelected body, quality care for our patients will be jeopardized.  We are equally concerned with the potential that physicians may be subjected to a double jeopardy in  Medicare payments if IPAB cuts  are  coupled with those projected under the current sustainable growth rate (SGR). The current instability and inequities in Medicare physician payments is hindering access to care for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.  IPAB would only exacerbate this problem.” (Martin S. Levine, American Osteopathic Association, Letter to House Energy & Commerce Committee, 2/28/2012)

BUT DEMOCRATS WANT TO MAKE THEIR MEDICARE GUTTING BOARD EVEN STRONGER:

“OBAMA BUDGET WANTS MORE TEETH” FOR MEDICARE-GUTTING BOARD: (Phillip Klein, “Obama Budget Wants More Teeth for Medicare Board,” The Washington Examiner, 2/13/2012)  

OBAMA BUDGET: “GIVE IPAB ADDITIONAL TOOLS LIKE THE ABILITY TO CONSIDER VALUE-BASED BENEFIT DESIGN” (READ: BENEFIT CUTS): (“Living Within Our Means and Investing in the Future,” Office of Management and Budget, September 2011)

“VALUE-BASED BENEFIT DEISGN” WOULD ALLOW IPAB TO EFFECTIVELY RATION HEALTHCARE SERVICES, INTERFERING WITH DOCTORS’ OWN PREFERRED TREATMENTS: “Value-based benefit design may enable IPAB to more effectively target cost sharing for those services that are most likely produce positive patient outcomes while reducing payments for services with less effective outcomes, explained Cori Uccello, the senior health fellow for the American Academy of Actuaries.” (Margaret Dick Tocknell, “IPAB to Kick in Early to Ease Impact of Medicare Cuts,” Health Leaders Media, 9/21/2011)

OBAMA FY2013 BUDGET ALSO VOWS TO BOOST IPAB’S POWER: “In addition, it strengthens the Independent Payment Advisory Board to reduce long-term drivers of Medicare cost growth.” (“Department of Health and Human Services,” The White House, February 2012)

New Study: Dems’ Brutal Medicare Cuts to Pay For ObamaCare Hit Your Hometown http://ow.ly/dIX5s#iwantrepeal