This page was last updated on July 16, 2012.
Health care law helps curb Medicare spending; Gary R. Marshall; Beaver County Times; July 15, 2012.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Facts about the health care law and the so-called $500 billion cut to Medicare:
“First, the $500 billion comes from the difference in spending over 10 years between anticipated Medicare spending and the changes in the health care law. The savings come from the health-care providers not Medicare beneficiaries, with 25 percent of the $500 billion coming from Medicare payments to Advantage providers.
“The Republican House budget would repeal the health care law, but leave all but $10 billion of that savings in their budget, meaning they do not have a problem with the $500 billion cut.
“But the House bill would repeal improvements for seniors in the health care law that would make preventative care free and close the prescription drug doughnut hole.”
[RWC] Free? There’s an old quip appropriate here: “If you think [fill in the blank] is expensive now, just wait until it’s free.”
“The bottom line is the Congressional Budget Office projects the new health care law has pushed the solvency of Medicare from 2017 to 2029, and will reduce Medicare spending by $100 billion by 2019.”
[RWC] From what I can tell, just about everything in this letter is false. The House voted for a complete repeal of Obamacare, not bits and pieces as Mr. Marshall appears to allege. Read H.R. 6079 (“Repeal of Obamacare Act”) and see for yourself.
FYI, all projections by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) are suspect because the CBO must use assumptions and data provided by the party requesting a projection. In any case, in 2009 a CBO report showed Democrats were double-counting the $500 billion. That CBO report said, “CBO has been asked whether the reductions in projected Part A outlays and increases in projected HI revenues under the legislation can provide additional resources to pay future Medicare benefits while simultaneously providing resources to pay for new programs outside of Medicare. Our answer is basically no.” This double-counting was one of the ways Democrats got their bogus Obamacare cost below $1 trillion for 10 years. Another major contributor to this subterfuge was the original estimate used 10 years of tax collections but only a few years of full benefits. As a result, in March 2012 the CBO reported Obamacare will cost $1.76 trillion over a decade instead of the $940 billion reported when Obamacare became law.
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