Hope and Fail

‘Nobody is talking about reducing Medicare benefits’ except Obama

When asked about whether his health care plan would cut Medicare benefits during the AARP town hall, President Obama said, “Nobody is talking about reducing Medicare benefits,” when, in June, the president outlined his cuts to the program.

From the White House transcript:

And this — let me also address I think a misperception that’s been out there that somehow there is any discussion on Capitol Hill about reducing Medicare benefits. Nobody is talking about reducing Medicare benefits. Medicare benefits are there because people contributed into a system. It works. We don’t want to change it. What we do want is to eliminate some of the waste that is being paid for out of the Medicare trust fund that could be used more effectively to cover more people and to strengthen the system.

… But nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits. And I just want to make that absolutely clear because we’ve received some e-mails and some letters where people are concerned that that may happen.

According to CNN, on June 13 the president outlined some $300 billion in cuts to Medicare.

About $110 billion of the new cuts would come from reducing scheduled increases in Medicare payments. That would encourage health care providers to increase productivity, White House budget director Peter Orszag told reporters.

Obama also proposed cutting payments to hospitals to treat uninsured patients by $106 billion on the assumption those ranks would decline as health care reforms phase in.

An additional $75 billion would come from “better pricing of Medicare drugs,” Orszag said, adding the White House was in talks with stakeholders over the best way to do that.

The remaining $22 billion in proposed cuts would come from smaller reforms, such as adjusting payment rates for physician imaging services and cutting waste, fraud and abuse.

It’s hard to see how cutting payments to doctors and hospitals won’t result in a cut in the care — read “benefits” — Medicare recipients receive.

To quote Ed Morrissey at Hot Air:

I’m not sure which school of economics Orszag and Obama attended, but cutting payments to providers won’t incentivize them to “increase productivity.” It will push them to take fewer Medicare patients. If they don’t get paid enough to provide the services, which is what the AMA has steadfastly argued and why more providers refuse to take Medicare patients, reducing the existing payments means that fewer Medicare patients can access care and will have their choices reduced.

And, if the president’s plans don’t cut benefits, why are Democrats in the House wary? From CNN:

Altogether, the Obama administration is now asking Congress to trim spending on Medicare and Medicaid by more than $600 billion over the next decade, which is more than some Democrats are willing to swallow.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel told reporters after a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats on the panel that the committee would include about $400 billion in Medicare and Medicaid savings in the health care overhaul legislation being drafted.

“We don’t think we can do all the things he (Obama) is recommending. … We think his 600 (billion) is our 400,” Rangel told reporters.

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