Repealing Obamacare would increase Medicare spending by >$800 billion over 10 years.
via Kaiser Health News.
See more posts like this on Tumblr
#politics #health care #aca #affordable care act #seniors #obamacare #healthcare #medicare #entitlements #retirement #retirees #retirement crisis #entitlement reform #older americans #elderlyMore you might like
Embedded in the Affordable Care Act were a raft of pilot projects and provisions to make medical care for retirees less expensive. The drafters of the act wanted to make doctors more accountable, share in cost savings and cut hospital re-admissions. The Act even cracked down on fraud and abuse in Medicare.
The first is simply the use of the term “entitlements.” While this has a clear meaning to policy wonks, it is likely that most viewers won’t immediately know that “entitlements” means the Social Security and Medicare their parents receive. It’s a lot easier for politicians to talk about cutting wasteful “entitlements” than taking away seniors’ Social Security and Medicare.
via Truth Out.
Related Reading:
Republican Senators Say Now’s the Time to Cut Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid.
“Democrats have already harmed seniors by slashing Medicare by more than $800 billion over 10 years to pay for Obamacare.”
Moreover, the $800 billion in Medicare reductions in the ACA that Trump complains about are the law of the land. In fact, Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration in their budget plans have pocketed virtually all those savings — and sought even more reductions in Medicare spending on top of that. Trump proposed $350 billion in net Medicare cuts in his budget — and there were about $540 billion in Medicare cuts assumed in the House GOP budget plan.
“Republicans believe that a Medicare program that was created for seniors and paid for by seniors their entire lives should always be protected and preserved.”
Meanwhile, for years, House Republicans led by Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) have pushed for a significant overhaul of Medicare. Retirees would get from the government what Ryan called “premium support” — a set payment adjusted to inflation; they would have used that money to pick from a range of plans offered by insurance companies through what is termed a Medicare exchange. But the Congressional Budget Office raised significant questions about whether the premium payment would be adequate over time.
via Washington Post.
Related Reading:
- The Affordable Care Act does not cut any of Medicare’s benefits. Rather the savings are being used to pay for benefits that are improving health care and saving money for millions of Medicare beneficiaries.
- Privatizing the program would end traditional Medicare as we know it. Ryan’s plan would likely drive healthier, younger and wealthier seniors toward private insurance. Poorer and sicker seniors would remain in traditional Medicare, driving up costs until the program collapsed under its own weight.
While this has a clear meaning to policy wonks, it is likely that most viewers won’t immediately know that “entitlements” means the Social Security and Medicare their parents receive. It’s a lot easier for politicians to talk about cutting wasteful “entitlements” than taking away seniors’ Social Security and Medicare.
Dean Baker via Truth Out.
Related Reading:
Will America’s Seniors Vote Against Their Own Self-Interests…Again?
In spite of years and years of doom-and-gloom predictions from conservatives that Obamacare will hurt Medicare, the facts just continue to tell another, very different story. Earlier in the month the annual Medicare Trustees report showed how the ACA continues to extend the program’s solvency.
The draft bill, posted around 9 p.m. Monday, makes the following cuts and restrictions in order to fund the program:
- Charging seniors who earn more than $500,000 a year higher Medicare premiums.
- Allowing states to kick out Medicaid beneficiaries if they win the lottery.
- Shortening the grace period for people paying their Obamacare premium payments late
- Cutting more than $5 billion from the Affordable Care Act’s prevention and public health fund.
via Talking Points Memo.
Stay up to date on the issues by signing up for our free newsletter, Your Morning Read, by clicking here.
The nearly 60 million seniors and disabled on Medicare are also at risk of losing benefits that the ACA mandated, including annual wellness visits and preventative screenings with no out of pocket costs, and will have to pay an average $1,000 per year more for prescription drugs unless those parts of Obamacare are retained.
via Entitled to Know.
Voters are now split evenly on their support for ObamaCare, according to a new survey.
A Politico/Morning Consult poll released early Wednesday finds that 45 percent of registered voters approve of former President Obama’s signature healthcare legislation while 45 percent disapprove.
via The Hill.
Related Reading:
- Why Seniors Should Care About Obamacare Repeal.
- These provisions include free wellness visits and preventative
screenings for cancer, diabetes, heart disease and a host of other
medical conditions – with no out of pocket costs – all of which could
disappear if the ACA is repealed. Likewise with the prescription drug
“donut hole,” which the ACA was closing, saving the average beneficiary
$1,000 a year.
- How the Affordable Care Act Helps Seniors.
Unfortunately, preserving Medicare and Social Security benefits could be among the first of his promises to go. Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have vowed the repeal of the Affordable Care Act will be one of their first acts. For seniors, that means billions in lost Medicare benefits, the return of the Part D prescription drug donut hole and years of solvency taken from Medicare.
via Entitled to Know.
Investment in home and community-based care is popular and must be included in #infrastructure. Now it’s up to Congress to get it done. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/opinion/elder-care-congress.html #HCBS @nytimes