“House Democrats Say CBO Projects $500 Billion in Gross Savings from Medicare”, remember this headline?
As you may recall from an earlier article on how the federal government plans to fund “their” health care reform initiative, $500 Billion was going to come from cutting health care payments to Medicare recipients across the whole system. In September of last year, The Wall Street Journal did a short article covering what we are starting to experience today.
GovernmentCare’s Assault on Seniors. – WSJ.com
The first plan to get our country to a single payer system (government run health care) was the “Public Option”. Although that option has been put on the sidelines for now, there are loop holes written in to the current reform law that will allow them to activate that option later if necessary. However, it no longer seems as if it will be necessary as their current plan seems to be achieving the same outcome. The Washington Post said it best when describing the road our government was taking to achieve a single payer system through the then toted “Public Option”.
The Public Plan
“Medicare keeps costs under control in part because of its 800 pound gorilla capacity to dictate prices- in effect to force the private sector to subsidize it. Such power, if exercised in a public health option, eventually would produce a single payer system; if that’s where the country wants to go, it should do it explicitly, not by default.”
The Washington Post, Reforming Health Care 4-27-09
You see, the government no longer needs a public plan to default our system to a single payer, it needs only to destroy the current system. Medicare is the largest payer to physicians, hospitals and all your services surrounding health care. Step one, cut cash flow to all those serving our communities; starve the system. Second, increase taxes and regulations to the entire economy. Hit the insurance companies, pharmaceutical and medical equipment manufacturers the hardest. Increase regulation to the other payers in the system (health insurance companies) so that eventually they will have to get out of the business or can simply become a supplemental company on the side removing all competitors leaving just the government. Then, the stage will be set for the government to step in and be our hero and rescue (bail-out) us all from ourselves, right?
Lack Of Permanent “Doc Fix” Could Undermine Health Reform.
The AP (5/27, Alonso-Zaldivar) reports, “For the third time this year, Congress is scrambling to stave off a hefty pay cut to doctors treating Medicare patients — even as the Obama administration mails out a glossy brochure to reassure seniors the health care program is on solid ground.” Notably, the “21.3 percent cut will take effect June 1 unless Congress intervenes in the next few days.” The AMA and other physician groups say they want a permanent solution to the problem, and many doctors say they may no longer accept Medicare patients. The AP points out that this issue “could undermine key goals of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, which envisions using Medicare to test ideas for improving the quality of care for all Americans.”
Democrats Defend CMS Brochure Explaining New Medicare Benefits.
Politico (5/27, Haberkorn) reports, “Top House Democrats on Wednesday said they support a taxpayer-funded brochure outlining the changes in Medicare under the health care overhaul, amid growing Republican cries of propaganda.” Earlier this week, CMS “mailed the four-page brochure to over 40 million Americans who use Medicare to explain how the program will change under the reform law. Critics say the mailing is overtly partisan and contains inaccuracies about what the overhaul will do.” But, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius “said they have a responsibility to educate people about what’s in the overhaul and what’s not.” Sebelius added, “We want to inform America’s seniors about what the act actually contains.”
The Hill (5/27, Pecquet) notes that the brochure discusses “closing the Part D ‘doughnut hole’ that requires seniors to pay full price for their drugs above a certain threshold, free preventive care, and increased efforts to combat fraud and abuse that endanger the program’s solvency.” Nevertheless, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) “blasted the outreach efforts on the Senate floor Tuesday, pointing out that Sebelius had objected to private Medicare Advantage plans using its communications to seniors to raise concerns with the health reform law when it was being debated.” In addition, Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS) said, “The ‘mailer is misleading, at best. … At worst, I fear it could represent taxpayer-financed government propaganda.'”
The truth can be very discouraging today and I try not to get stuck in the quicksand, however, it does remind me as a business person and an individual taxpayer, that change is needed in November. We need to stop the bad reform and start on the track of right reform. The upside to things is that we are resilient. In the last two years, I have attended meetings and have seen insurance carriers, hospitals and physicians all in one room discussing positive reform; unthinkable just a few years ago.
We need to be accountable for our life styles and behaviors (which generate over 70% of all insurance claims (health care bills)), take reform and wellness serious and get back to doing for ourselves. We have crossed the line and we need to take action. And, if you want a little more incentive, you need only to click on this site and look at the bottom line; Medicare Liabilities in REAL TIME. U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time
What are your fellow Americans thinking; repeal it while we still can!
Public Opinion
Americans Want Repeal of Health Care Reform: A recently released Rasmussen report suggests that Americans are strongly in favor of repealing President Barack Obama’s health care reform law. Sixty percent of those polled favor repeal, while 62% believe the new legislation will increase the budget deficit.
Majority of Americans Unhappy with Reform: According to a new Quinnipiac University poll, 51% of Americans are unhappy with the new health care reform legislation and 70% are “dissatisfied” or “very dissatisfied” with the way things are going for the nation.
