Democrats’ $716 Billion Medicare Cut Problem

September 22, 2012

Democrats’ $716 Billion Medicare Cut Problem

President Obama Contradicts Himself on Double-Counting His Medicare Cuts to Pay for ObamaCare

Speaking to the AARP Friday, President Obama tried to deny that Democrats cut $716 billion in Medicare to pay for ObamaCare.
The problem is that Obama’s own cabinet secretary previously admitted that their cuts to Medicare paid for ObamaCare. Democrats even double-counted these cuts to Medicare in a budget gimmick to claim they both paid for ObamaCare and extended the solvency of Medicare.
Democrats thought they’d win in 2012 by scaring seniors, but the Democrats’ cuts to Medicare are coming back to haunt them.

Speaking to the AARP Friday, President Obama tried to deny that Democrats cut $716 billion in Medicare to pay for ObamaCare:

OBAMA ON FRIDAY: “SIMPLY NOT TRUE” TO SAY “WE SOMEHOW TOOK $716 BILLION, ROBBED IT FROM MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES AND SENIORS”: (“Remarks by the President to AARP Convention Via Satellite,” The White House, 9/21/2012)

BUT OBAMA CITES THAT SAME $716 BILLION TO CLAIM IT BOTH PAYS FOR OBAMACARE AND EXTENDS THE LIFE OF MEDICARE: “Those savings do come out to $716 [billion], and those savings are part of what allows us to close the doughnut hole, provide the preventive care, and is actually going to extend the life of Medicare over the long term. It also, by the way, helps to reduce the increase in the premiums that seniors pay under Medicare.” (“Remarks by the President to AARP Convention Via Satellite,” The White House, 9/21/2012)

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)

BUT OBAMACARE’S CUTS TO MEDICARE WILL AFFECT CURRENT SENIORS:

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

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 problem is that Obama’s own cabinet secretary previously admitted that their cuts to Medicare paid for ObamaCare. Democrats even double-counted these cuts to Medicare in a budget gimmick to claim they both paid for ObamaCare and extended the solvency of Medicare:

FLASHBACK TO OBAMA IN 2010: “YOU CAN’T SAY THAT YOU ARE SAVING ON MEDICARE AND THEN SPEND THE MONEY TWICE”: “[W]hat is absolutely true and what I do agree with is that you can’t say that you are saving on Medicare and then spend the money twice.” (“President Barack Obama Talks to Bret Baier About Health Care Reform Bill,” Fox News, 3/17/2010)

OBAMA’S HHS SECRETARY KATHLEEN SEBELIUS ADMITTED TO “DOUBLE-COUNTING” THE CUTS TO MEDICARE, USING THE SAME CUTS TO MEDICARE TO BOTH PAY FOR OBAMACARE AND ALLEGEDLY EXTEND MEDICARE’S LIFE:(Amanda Carey, “HHS Secretary Sebelius Admits to Double-Counting in ObamaCare Budget,” The Daily Caller, 3/4/2011)

MEDICARE ACTUARY: MEDICARE CUTS IN OBAMACARE “CANNOT BE SIMULTANEOUSLY USED TO FINANCE OTHER FEDERAL OUTLAYS AND TO EXTEND THE [MEDICARE] TRUST FUND”: (Solomon M. Mussey, “Estimated Effects of the ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,’ as Amended, on the Year of Exhaustion for the Part A Trust Fund, Part B Premiums, and Part A and Part B Coinsurance Amounts,” Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 4/22/2010)

PELOSI BRAGS: “WE TOOK HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS OUT OF MEDICARE” WITH GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: ”You don’t have to have cuts in those initiatives in order to reduce cost there, and we have proven that we’re willing to make cuts in the cost to initiatives. We took half a trillion dollars out of Medicare in the Affordable Care Act, the health care bill, already, and there’s certainly more opportunities for savings in that respect.“ (Remarks from Nancy Pelosi, CNBC’s “Closing Bell”, 10/29/2011)

Democrats thought they’d win in 2012 by scaring seniors, but the Democrats’ cuts to Medicare are coming back to haunt them:

PELOSI VOWS MEDISCARE WILL WIN DEMOCRATS THE HOUSE: “House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted this weekend that GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan could be the Democrats’ ticket to taking back the House.” (Meghan McCarthy, “Medical Momentum,” National Journal, 9/18/2012)

UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA’S LARRY SABATO: MEDISCARE IS A DUD FOR DEMOCRATS: “ ‘We’ve seen no polling pattern of a bump up for House Democratic candidates that are using the Medicare issue. As far as we can tell, there has been no wave for either side, at least so far—no wave generated by Medicare or any other topic,’ Sabato said.” (Meghan McCarthy, “Medical Momentum,” National Journal, 9/18/2012)

Democrats’ $716 Billion Medicare Cut Problem http://ow.ly/dTV9o#iwantrepeal