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The possibility of being called a liar by Harry Reid isn't stopping this group of senior citizens from speaking out.

March 10, 2014, 12:38 pm Obama drops Medicare changes By Elise Viebeck The Obama administration is abandoning a surprise plan to alter Medicare drug coverage rules after it was almost unanimously panned by Congress and K Street. Medicare chief Marilyn Tavenner alerted lawmakers Monday that her agency would not finalize regulations giving insurers more leeway to limit the number of drugs they cover for Medicare beneficiaries. Critics argued that making the change, which the administration said would save money, would have hampered seniors' access to necessary medications Democrats had worried the issue could have hurt them in the midterm elections....

A new report by the Robert Powell Center for Medical Ethics at National Right to Life warns that one of the Obamacare provisions that ex-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Americans would discover if Congress passed the bill is that some seniors will not be allowed to spend as much as they wish on their health care. The extreme position was revealed in a special report by the NRLC titled “The Affordable Care Act and Health Care Access in the United States,” which analyzes four fundamental policy areas of Obamacare. It finds several ways that the federal health care law “will...

For better or worse, the incursion of national governments into health care—including our own Medicare system—has permanently altered virtually all aspects of how care is delivered. Even before the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) explicitly brought federal control to every facet of this industry irrespective of the type of insurance coverage, Medicare’s influence would reach far beyond its statutory purview of health care for seniors. Not surprisingly, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has become the lead agency for Obamacare, and, somewhat ironically, has spared no expense in the pursuit of saving money on health care. For example, CMS...

The health insurance industry fighting proposed cuts to Medicare Advantage payments argued they will raise seniors' out-of-pocket costs next year. America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a trade group, blasted the reductions with a report Thursday finding that beneficiaries could pay as much as $900 more in 2015 if the cuts take effect. The report by consulting firm Oliver Wyman concluded that Medicare Advantage (MA) plans could see a 5.9 percent total cut to their payments next year as a result of changes proposed by federal health officials. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) floated a 2015 cut of...

A northern-Michigan hospital is cutting 43 positions in part because of costs related to the Affordable Care Act, its CEO says. David Zechman of McLaren Northern Michigan told a local television station the layoffs were “something that we had no choice in doing.” Zechman cited the changes to Medicaid and Medicare under the health-care law that cut reimbursement rates for the hospital’s services. “We still have the same costs of taking care of patients, but it’s hard to keep doing the same things you’re doing if you’re paid less for the same amount of costs and services you provide —...

An alliance of drug companies and patient advocates, joined by Democrats and Republicans in Congress, is fiercely opposing an Obama administration proposal that would allow insurers to limit Medicare coverage for certain classes of drugs, including those used to treat depression and schizophrenia. The administration’s proposal would remove the protected status from three classes of drugs that has been in place since the program’s inception in 2006: immunosuppressant drugs used in transplant patients, antidepressants and antipsychotic medicines. They include many well-known drugs, such as Wellbutrin, Paxil and Prozac to treat depression, and Abilify and Seroquel to treat schizophrenia. Three other...

Last month, Ed brought up the subject of how insurance companies were reacting to scheduled cuts to Medicare which were part of Obamacare. The news wasn’t good for them, and now Democrats are moving toward full blown panic mode after HHS announced that the cuts are on the way. The Obama administration ignited a new election-year controversy Friday when regulators handed down fresh cuts to Medicare Advantage (MA).Next year, plans in the program will see their payments cut by at least 2 percent on average between ObamaCare and a regular annual update, the announcement stated.The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...

The critics are right, however, that some people will choose to work less because they qualify for a tax-credit based subsidy. If not for this government program, they would have to work harder and employment numbers would be higher. So might total output or gross domestic product. This aspect of the Affordable Care Act distorts economic efficiency. But don't kid yourself that this is anything new. Social Security has the same effect. About 41 million people currently get Social Security retirement benefits. Many still do work, at least part-time. But most do not. If not for their monthly checks, which...

Cuts are on the table next year for Medicare Advantage plans, the Obama administration says. The politically dicey move affecting a private insurance alternative highly popular with seniors immediately touched off an election-year fight. The announcement gave new ammunition to Republican critics of President Barack Obama’s health care law, while disappointing some Democratic senators who had called on the administration to hold rates steady. Insurers are still hoping to whittle back the cuts or dodge them altogether. …

The National Republican Senatorial Committee points out that North Carolina Sen. Kay Hagan and other vulnerable Senate Democrats are now whacking the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid… for enacting changes required by Obamacare. Hey, Senator Hagan, if you want to blame someone, blame the foolish or dishonest lawmakers who voted for the law! Wait a minute, that’s you! In 2009, Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) promised North Carolinians who depend on Medicare that she was going to “protect Medicare” and that they would “not see a drop in their Medicare coverage.”
 But in 2010 Kay Hagan voted to slash Medicare Advantage...

President Obama is facing a deepening dilemma about whether to abandon cuts to Social Security in his next fiscal blueprint, which is due out in March. Obama touched the third rail of American politics last year when he proposed a new formula for Social Security and other entitlements that would result in benefits being cut over time. Now congressional Democrats and unions are ramping up their pressure on Obama to drop the proposal, which many fear could become an albatross for the party in the midterm elections. “We want the president to make very clear that he is going to...

Last week I testified before the House Oversight committee on the “risk corridors” in the (ObamaCare) exchanges. Republicans claim that this is a device to bail out the insurance companies. Democrats, in the unusual position of defending the insurance companies, actually claimed that the government was going to make a “profit” because of it. I was in the uncomfortable position of not agreeing completely with either side. The Affordable Care Act creates a new health insurance marketplace (the exchange). But because of the great uncertainty about what buyers will enter the market and who will buy what product, the law...

Once again, the American Medical Association is calling on patients and doctors to barrage Congress with pleas to permanently end the Clinton-Gingrich Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) formula for cutting Medicare costs. The proposed tiny yearly “updates” (0.5%) for 5 years are even less than the inadequate Social Security cost-of-living increases. The cost of a postage stamp, for example, increased by 6.5% in January. “How can the AMA possibly agree to a virtual 5-year fee freeze when the value of the dollar could deteriorate drastically?” Orient asks. AAPS argues that Medicare can calculate reimbursements however it likes, but the fee should...

This was not in the fine print of the Affordable Care Act (that no one read), and there was nothing in it that changed the existing law from 1993. The ACA however, did expand the number of people who are eligible for Medicaid, so now there are more people from the ages of 55 to 65 whose estates could be on the hook for Medicaid expenses after the beneficiary dies. This sounds like a cash grab to me. Many states have not changed the law to limit the amount of expenses the government can claim are owed for Medicaid, but...

Every day the scorecards went up, where they could be seen by all of the hospital’s emergency room doctors. Physicians hitting the target to admit at least half of the patients over 65 years old who entered the emergency department were color-coded green. The names of doctors who were close were yellow. Failing physicians were red. The scorecards, according to one whistle-blower lawsuit, were just one of the many ways that Health Management Associates, a for-profit hospital chain based in Naples, Fla., kept tabs on an internal strategy that regulators and others say was intended to increase admissions, regardless of...

Video 3:03 News story about rehab being taken off Medicare coverage.

What are the major differences between Medicaid, Medicare? Which covers more? Since Obamacare thrusts so many into Medicaid, and has raised income limits, can a retiree chose Medicaid over Medicare? Can I assume a person who retires early (at 62) and can't get Medicare until 66, can get Medicaid?

On Oct. 1, 2012 the Obama administration started awarding bonus points to hospitals that spend the least on elderly patients. It will result in fewer knee replacements, hip replacements, angioplasty, bypass surgery and cataract operations. These are the five procedures that have transformed aging for older Americans. They used to languish in wheelchairs and nursing homes due to arthritis, cataracts and heart disease. Now they lead active lives. But the Obama administration is undoing that progress. By cutting $716 billion from future Medicare funding over the next decade and rewarding the hospitals that spend the least on seniors, the Obama...

The Obama administration claims that its Obamacare sign-up numbers aren’t that far off from where they need to be. They have a vested interest in selling the program as a success, and have proven themselves dishonest about it from the beginning. Obama knew that his “if you like your healthcare, you can keep your healthcare” promise was bogus the entire time. The CEO of Aetna insurance, Mark Bertolini, has a different take on the president’s signature healthcare law. Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini told CNBC on Wednesday that Obamacare has failed to attract the uninsured, and he offered a scenario in...