rockin'robin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 22, 2007
- Messages
- 24,425
- Reaction score
- 551
The New York Post reports the Obama administration is engaged in some fiscal shenanigans to cover up one of the more unpleasant aspects of Obamacare, at least until after the November election.
When health care reform was passed, much of the more unpleasant aspects of it were designed to only kick in after the election. One of those was the $500 billion cut in Medicare that was designed to pay for an expansion of Medicaid. This would result in a heavy slash in reimbursement rates for a program called Medicare Advantage, a popular, market-oriented plan also called Medicare Part C.
Medicare Part C operates like an HMO, while seniors are allowed to pick and choose plans that cover their Medicare Part A (hospital insurance), Medicare Part B (medical insurance) as well as added features such as vision, hearing and dental. Most also cover Medicare Part D (drug reimbursement.)
Since the cuts are starting in 2013, seniors would notice they would no longer have the Medicare Advantage option during re-enrollment period in October. The Obama administration noticed this after Obamacare passed and soon realized it was a prescription for political disaster. Millions of enraged senior citizens, finding out how thoroughly they had been harmed by the Obama administration, would almost certainly not be inclined to vote for the president's re-election.
No problem. The administration has discovered a 1967 statute that allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to spend money at her discretion on "demonstration projects" designed to "increase the efficiency and economy" of health services. $8.3 billion proved to be enough on the demonstration project to keep Medicare Advantage going past the next election, just long enough to keep seniors from revolting.
Hot Air calls this plan what it actually is, a slush fund designed to demonstrate that when the Democrats claimed no one except for the rich would be harmed by Obamacare, they were lying. Otherwise, why use a slush fund to hide this fact?
This maneuver is fraught with cynicism and mendacity on an epic scale, designed to buy the votes of senior citizens with our money.
This is provided the Supreme Court does not pull the plug and tosses Obamacare in the ash heap of history. In the meantime, a congressional investigation needs to happen.
Obama's $8.3 Slush Fund to Save His Re-Election from Obamacare - Yahoo! News
When health care reform was passed, much of the more unpleasant aspects of it were designed to only kick in after the election. One of those was the $500 billion cut in Medicare that was designed to pay for an expansion of Medicaid. This would result in a heavy slash in reimbursement rates for a program called Medicare Advantage, a popular, market-oriented plan also called Medicare Part C.
Medicare Part C operates like an HMO, while seniors are allowed to pick and choose plans that cover their Medicare Part A (hospital insurance), Medicare Part B (medical insurance) as well as added features such as vision, hearing and dental. Most also cover Medicare Part D (drug reimbursement.)
Since the cuts are starting in 2013, seniors would notice they would no longer have the Medicare Advantage option during re-enrollment period in October. The Obama administration noticed this after Obamacare passed and soon realized it was a prescription for political disaster. Millions of enraged senior citizens, finding out how thoroughly they had been harmed by the Obama administration, would almost certainly not be inclined to vote for the president's re-election.
No problem. The administration has discovered a 1967 statute that allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to spend money at her discretion on "demonstration projects" designed to "increase the efficiency and economy" of health services. $8.3 billion proved to be enough on the demonstration project to keep Medicare Advantage going past the next election, just long enough to keep seniors from revolting.
Hot Air calls this plan what it actually is, a slush fund designed to demonstrate that when the Democrats claimed no one except for the rich would be harmed by Obamacare, they were lying. Otherwise, why use a slush fund to hide this fact?
This maneuver is fraught with cynicism and mendacity on an epic scale, designed to buy the votes of senior citizens with our money.
This is provided the Supreme Court does not pull the plug and tosses Obamacare in the ash heap of history. In the meantime, a congressional investigation needs to happen.
Obama's $8.3 Slush Fund to Save His Re-Election from Obamacare - Yahoo! News
