[Apologetics] Heritage: Obamacare will absolutely cause reduced Medicare benefits for Seniors

Tue Oct 6 12:27:09 EDT 2009

This article states in part:

Obamacare will absolutely cause reduced Medicare benefits for Seniors
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463684:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> . Congressional Budget Office
Director Douglas Elmendorf told Congress that
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463684:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  and even the New York Times
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463685:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  has grudgingly admitted as
much.

Art 

________________________________

From: The Heritage Foundation [mailto:morningbell at heritage.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 9:45 AM
To: Art Kelly
Subject: Morning Bell: Competition, Not Price-Controls, Will Save
Medicare

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 The Heritage
Foundation<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/cimages/b878bb3c4ea
e913925f7e2b8fca014f5/logo.JPG> 	The Morning Bell

TUESDAY, OCT 6, 2009

Competition, Not Price-Controls, Will Save Medicare
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463678:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> 

"I just want to be clear, again: Seniors who are listening here, this
does not affect your benefits. This is not money going to you to pay for
your benefits; this is money that is subsidizing folks who don't need
it." Or so President Barack Obama promised
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463679:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  our nation's seniors earlier
this year. Problem is, as we have pointed
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463680:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  out
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463681:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  many
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463682:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  times
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463683:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> , this is simply not true:
Obamacare will absolutely cause reduced Medicare benefits for Seniors
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463684:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> . Congressional Budget Office
Director Douglas Elmendorf told Congress that
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463684:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  and even the New York Times
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463685:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  has grudgingly admitted as
much.

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<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463686:4925759033:m:1:149
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<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463688:4925759033:m:1:149
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<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/cimages/b878bb3c4eae913925f7e
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<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463689:4925759033:m:1:149
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<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463690:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  	
Specifically, every version of Obamacare waiting to be merged into one
bill on Capitol Hill cuts billions of dollars from the Medicare
Advantage program
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463691:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> . One of the dirty little
secrets about Medicare is that it actually only covers slightly more
than half of all health care costs for seniors and disabled citizens.
Medicare recipients buy the balance of their health care coverage
through private supplemental insurance or Medigap coverage. Most
seniors, therefore, actually have at least two health insurance
providers, the federal government through Medicare, and a private
supplemental insurer. Medicare Advantage allows seniors to pay a single
premium and receive a much broader range of health care services than
just government-run Medicare provides, including prescription drug
coverage, preventive-care services, routine physical examinations, and
coor-dinated care for chronic conditions.

The Baucus bill, which will be voted on in the Senate Finance Committee
later this week
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463692:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> , is the least offensive
Medicare reform plan currently being included in Obamacare. However, the
Baucus bill fails to achieve true reform in two ways: First, it takes
all 'savings' from Medicare reform and immediately plows them into a new
deficit exploding entitlement. Second, and more importantly, it
preserves the old fee-for-service Medicare program which is based on
central planning and price controls.

The better option would be to move Medicare towards a true "premium
support" system where the government would make direct contributions to
all beneficiaries who could then control how to spend their own health
care dollars. This would be the same model as the Federal Employees
Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) which provides health insurance to
Members of Congress. Heritage fellow Bob Moffit explains
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463693:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> :

	With modifications, Congress could adopt a premium support
system broadly similar to the FEHBP and secure the same positive results
in intense competition, patient choice, high quality care, and patient
satisfaction. Without such modifications, there is no real reform but
just more of the same.

Instead of breaking the President's promises, and raising health care
costs for America's seniors, Congress should hit the reset button and
start over with real competition and state based reform that lowers
costs and improves care.

QUICK HITS

Politico
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463694:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  details the "Obama Gitmo Blame
Game."

The Obama administration immigration plan repeats all of Bush's mistakes
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463695:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  including blanket amnesty for
millions of illegal immigrants.

Gallup
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463696:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> 's Consumer Confidence Index
fell by 9 points to -29 and Gallup's Job Creation Index fell 3 points to
zero.

According to a subpoena served Monday by the Louisiana attorney general,
ACORN's embezzlement scandal totaled $5 million
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463697:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D> , not $1 million as claimed by
the community organizers.

According to the International Energy Agency, despite the fact that
global temperatures have not risen in the past year, the cost of cutting
enough carbon to stop global warming has risen 37% since just last year
<http://paracom.paramountcommunication.com/ct/3463698:4925759033:m:1:149
266645:4136979C295D0F884C490E208261E48D>  to a total of $10 trillion.	

________________________________

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