Posted on 09/28/2012 7:52:20 PM PDT by Steelfish
Joe Biden To Florida Seniors: Mitt Romney Would Threaten Medicare
By Michael A. Memoli September 28, 2012 TAMARAC, Fla. -- If there's one thing Vice President Joe Biden does more conspicuously here than in other states, it's to play the role as chief validator for his running mate.
Before senior-heavy audiences in southern Florida on Friday, he fulfilled that role in two ways, buttressing the Obama campaign's case against the Republicans on entitlement programs, and offering a firm testimonial for the president when it comes to his stewardship of the U.S. relationship with Israel.
The 69-year-old former senator waxed at greater length here about his decades-long career in public service, in part to make that point.
“Although I was raised by a righteous Christian, my dad, I was raised by an awful lot of folks back home politically who taught me early on, along with my pop, that we have certain special obligations around the world. One of those, one of those, is Israel,” Biden told a predominantly elderly crowd at a retirement community in Boca Raton.
“I’m not going to talk about Israel today, I just want to say one thing. I just want to tell you how proud I am, how proud I am to stand shoulder to shoulder with a guy who has done more for Israel’s physical security than any president of the eight I’ve served with,” he continued.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Rimshot’s boss is only shaking down Medicare for 600 billion bucks. He’s not “threatening” it like Romney.
Whoops! I forgot. That figure has been revised to 716 billion bucks for ObamaCare and its death panels.
Ummm... Hey Biden - take a look at your boss... HE stripped $750BILLION from Medicare...
Where is the Romney camp? Hello? Where is the TRUTH patrol????
Need TV spots in Florida-A simple, short spot:
Cut Medicare - Death Panels - government bureaucracy will decide what medical treatments you get...
And thank you President Obama - for stripping $750 Billion from Medicare...
Speechless.
There is NO SHAME in these classless, filthy traitors.
May you rot in hell, Joe Biden.
Locals, like Jeb and Marco, should be hitting old Joe immediately after the nonsense comes out of his piehole.
Exactly! But its not happening. Marco Rubio should have rebutted this immediately. James Carville had assembled a rapid response team for Clinton which was pivotal in Clinton beating Bush.
As a WI physician, I have been telling my Medicare patients of the 716 B cut to Medicare. And if that POS is reelected, I’m dropping Medicare.
If that guy that he stands "shoulder to shoulder" with is Obama, it's obvious that the vast majority of the citizens of Israel don't think so! Isn't it about time that these elderly Jews in Florida stopped believing that this 'Rat regime can effectively help protect Israel against the existential threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran? My gut take is that Biden didn't get much in the way of applause from his audience when he uttered that sentence.
Notice that he says "I'm not going to talk about Israel today," then in his next breath talks about it. But since he's a Democrat, the LA Slimes won't question his obvious double-talk.
Also what's with his claim that he "served with eight presidents"? A Senator does not serve with a President, because he's in the legislative branceh while the President is the chief executive. So he's only served with one president, not eight.
Every time Biden opens his mouth, it seems, something comes out wrong.
“And if that POS is reelected, I’m dropping Medicare.”
That might work for some physicians, for a while but when almost everybody is forced to be on medicare/medicaid or something replacing both but still government operated there won’t be enough people not on that program to keep principled physicians, such as yourself, in business.
For older physicians they may opt to retire and I believe that many of them will do just that. At 28, I’m just starting my medical career and the future is bleak.
Furthermore, I sincerely doubt that the direction this is going, of who pays what, is bleak at best, no matter who wins this next election. I don’t trust that Romney would change one darn thing and I know without a doubt that the only changes Obama might consider would only make things worse - if that’s even possible.
Simply run 30 ads all over Florida asking Seniors: "Do you like Medicare Advantage and if so, are you aware that beginning NEXT YEAR, the $716 cuts in Medicare that Obama insisted on, will prevent you form participating in Medicare Advantage."
Put the Fascist, Commie and the RAT Party on the defensive and let them try to refute that "fact."
From an 8/16/12 Forbes article:
"Of the $716 billion in Medicare cuts, the next biggest chunk, $156 billion, is taken out of the market-oriented Medicare Advantage program, known to wonks as Medicare Part C. Nationwide, 24 percent of all seniors are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, though that percentage is meaningfully higher in important swing states like Florida (32 percent) and Ohio (34 percent)."
My FRiend, there is a ray of hope for us!
Boca Raton, which is a town famous for it’s “Elderly Jews in South Florida”, is sprouting Romney lawn Signs EVERYWHERE!
A buddy of mine who is involved in the campaign, told me that these signs will not be available in Palm Beach County til October 1st.
Which means that these folks had to GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO GET THEM!
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS, Internet aapsonline.org) has been encouraging and helping physicians and medical practices to drop participation in Medicare for quite a number of years now. Quite a few have done so (I'd guess most of those who did are in smaller cities and rural areas) and have reported that they enjoy their practices a lot more being free from some of the hassle of constant paperwork and disputes with government bureaucrats and appointed hacks over reimbursement. Not to mention the alleviation of the overall fear in the back of the participating physician's mind that some overzealous law enforcement official may turn a dispute over appropriate billing codes and reimbursement into a federal criminal case for alleged billing fraud; such things have been known to happen.
Obamacare would make things worse in terms of Medicare reimbursement for patient and participating physician alike. If ObamaCare is fully implemented, perhaps enough Medicare patients will decide to use non-participating practices where they know there will be significantly more out-of-pocket expenses but can be confident they will get more personalized attention from their physicians and faster, more reliable, higher quality care.
The percentage of the national Jewish vote for Romney will be close to, or surpass, the highest percentage for a GOP presidential candidate since Warren G. Harding - about 40% in my estimate. The shift of perhaps 15 points among Jews in Florida to the GOP compared to 2008 might be decisive in delivering the state to Mittens.
Good post. I most heartily agree with you. In November 2011, I was the target of a Medicare audit. It’s been almost a year later, and the auditors have yet to file a claim against me. In the mean time, I have had to spend 40 k and climbing on attorney bills, internal audits etc. This type of intimidation is at the very heart of 0bama and his totalitarian socialist regime. Since November, I have stopped seeing new Medicare patients, and I have released well over 70% of my existing Medicare patients. If 0bama is re-elected, I thinks it’s safe to say that Medicare audits and compliance will become even more dangerous and onerous in which case I will be done with Medicare. It will be foolish for small groups and solo practitioners to continue to see Medicare patients because of the very real regulatory risk, high compliance costs and low reimbursement. This will force Medicare patients to see providers in large hospital groups instead of small groups and solo practices which still comprise about 45% of physician manpower. Physicians are an able and adaptable group. Those remaining in private practice will gravitate towards other practice models; Boutique, cash pay, consultant work (IMEs, insurance), alternative medicine, personal injury/ legal cases. Some highly skilled specialists (neurosurgeons, orthopods, cardiac) may even be able to demand high fees per case as independent contractors for hospital groups that are unable to attract these specialists as employees. Still other physicians may be able to weather the regulatory risk, litigation risk and low reimbursement by running a stable of ‘mid levels’ (PAs, NPs) providing low quality cookbook care to patients on a medical assembly line.
BTW, AAPS is an excellent physician advocacy group and I am a member.
Romney either assumes Florida is solidly Republican and doesn’t need to advertise here or he assumes it is irretrievably Democrat so it is a waste of money to advertise here. Or he is not attempting to actually win this thing. The third option seems to be the more likely. North Florida is Repunlican. South Florida is Northeast-US Democrat. Romney not advertising in North Florida disheartens Republicans here and many won’t vote because it appears to be obviously a losing cause. They only hear from SEIU and the kenyan. With lax voting in N FL esp NW FL Miami will carry the state and Florida will go Democrat.
Many able physicians, especially but not limited to specialists, will do as the best of the English and Canadian doctors did, go offshore. The best of English medicine is practiced in Thailand and Singapore and India and it is much cheaper because your medical dollar doesn’t have to support also three bureaucrats and two insurance executives.
To be honest about it, although I wouldn't doubt that the Obama regime has amped up Medicare fraud prosecutions and "recovery" efforts from allegedly cheating "providers," the federal government has been heavily into this kind of thing since the Reagan Administration and maybe even before.
It seems like a popular political program even for "conservatives" in Washington, who can ignore the injustice of it while treating it as a cost-saving measure, a rare one with little risk of political backlash (in their way of thinking), since physicians and other "providers" and their families account for such a small percentage of the electorate are not considered very politically astute or influential.
Possible way of fixing this:
I just want to tell you how proud I am, how proud I am to stand shoulder to shoulder with a guy who has done more TO Israel’s physical security than any president of the eight I’ve servICED,” he continued.
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