This page was last updated on April 6, 2010.
Medicare scare on reform is bogus; Dan Sainovich, Jr.; Beaver County Times; April 6, 2010.
I have to admit to a challenge critiquing “Dan Sainovich” letters over time. The reason is this. Over the last 5+ years, letters from Industry/Ohioville have been signed Dan; Dan, Jr.; Danny; and Danny, Sr. It appears there is a minimum of two “Dans” and a maximum of four. The last letter I critiqued from Dan, Jr., was entitled “Obama critics have lost their perspective.” Mr. Sainovich also wrote “Don’t fall for scare tactics on bill” (8/13/09) in support of H.R. 3200. (I was on summer vacation at the time and did not critique the letter.) You should note in neither of his letters did Mr. Sainovich mention fear or scare tactics, yet the Times managed to get “scare” into both of the letter titles. For those of you who have not written a letter to the editor, the Times writes the title, not the letter author.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“I would ask readers to take part in a nonscientific poll, especially if you are upset over the health care reform legislation:
“1. What is a politician’s first job?
“- Get elected.
“- Kiss babies.
“- Schmooze with important people.
“2. What is a politician’s second job?
“- Get re-elected.
“- Represent the people.
“- Pass good legislation.
“3. What group is the strongest voting block?
“- Senior citizens.
“- College students.
“- Minorities.
“If you answered the first choice in the questions above, and I would be willing to bet that it is a majority, ask yourself this question: Why would any politician vote to destroy Medicare, as the opposition is saying about this legislation? I supported health care reform and believe that although not perfect, it is definitely good for the country.”
[RWC] Here’s something Mr. Sainovich failed to mention. Obamacare takes $500 billion from Medicare over the first 10 years. Since Medicare is already running a deficit (payouts exceed Medicare tax revenue) and was expected to go bankrupt by 2017 even before Obamacare, I think it’s fair to say taking $500 billion from Medicare to spend on other pieces of Obamacare certainly won’t help Medicare.
Something else Mr. Sainovich failed to mention is the so-called “doctor fix” passed annually for Medicare. As a reminder, the “doctor fix” amounts to about $20-$25 billion per year to make up for Medicare’s normal underpayment of doctors. Without the fix, a significant number of doctors would simply stop seeing Medicare patients. For a 10-year period the doctor fix is about $250 billion, and Obamacare excluded the fix so its supporters could say Obamacare would reduce the deficit. If the doctor fix does not continue to be implemented, that will be a total of about $750 billion taken from Medicare over 10 years and fewer doctors who will see Medicare patients. Again, how does this not hurt Medicare?
As for Mr. Sainovich’s comment that a government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare monopoly (the goal and ultimate result of Obamacare) “is definitely good for the country,” please read my paper entitled “Healthcare.”