Democrats rushing to cancel Medicare cuts they asked for in Obamacare

Hotair ^ | 02/22/2014 | Jazz Shaw

[SeekAndFind]

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 Services (CMS) argued that the reductions will help to strengthen the program — an increasingly popular alternative to traditional Medicare — and guard against waste.

So here’s a thought that I’ve already heard being mentioned around DC this weekend; the Democrats may be poised to turn this into a big political win for the mid-terms. How? Easy. Obama gets the cuts worked into the original Obamacare package, and then announces them. The Democrats, desperately hoping that nobody will remember that they all voted for the cuts in the first place, turn around and look like heroes when they suddenly rise up and “protect our seniors” from the cuts. Victory!

“Democrats they had better watch out” Already worried about the political fallout of seniors that are being hit with a reduction in benefits and higher costs, Democrats like Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor are panicked. This week, they were forced to admit in a letter to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services that they indeed cut Medicare for seniors after repeatedly promising they would protect these programs from cuts.

Democrats should be worried. Americans want Obamacare and it’s Medicare cuts dismantled.

Sound crazy? Not really. Actually, it’s a fairly standard tactic if you assume that your voter base is fairly stupid and has the attention span of a fruit fly. First you create a crisis, then you charge in to the rescue and “fix it” yourself. Of course, America’s voters would never be gullible enough to fall for cheap parlor tricks like this, would they?

Look around you at the White House and the state of the nation today… it’s actually almost a given.

[FAA]

Ya know, by the time the next Republican wins the Presidency I don’t know if there’ll be enough of this bill left to repeal. Democrats are kinda taking all the fun out of that.

[DJ Frisat]

Not to worry, cuts will be restored after the next election...

[madison10]

Maybe the idiots SHOULD have read the bill...

[andyk]

Politifact (left-wing "fact checker") from November 2012 rating the claim of Medicare cuts as Mostly False, along with lots of links.

[andyk]

From the HHS announcement:

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.

So these are in fact reductions in the rate of growth. Exactly the kinds of reductions that are routinely considered "cuts" by liberals in every other instance where they're used. But I disagree - they're not cuts if the program and its spending continues to increase.

[Liz]

EVEN THOUGH REPUBLICANS AND TEA PARTIERS WERE HAMMERING OBAMA FOR CUTTING MEDICARE TO PAY FOR OBAMACARE----DEMOCRATS WERE "NOT TOLD" OBAMA'S WONDERFUL HEALTHCARE WOULD DECIMATE MEDICARE.

(Sniffle) sap-happy Dems never figured the snarky Obama/Care proviso to cut $780 million out of Medicare woukld actually h-u-r-t anybody (sob).

DEMOCRATS FACE THE MUSIC 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 to pay for ObamaCare. (H.R. 4872, CQ Vote #72: Motion agreed to 56-42: R 0-40; D 54-2; I 2-0, 3/24/10, Hagan Voted Yea);

SIGNING "THE BIG EFFIN' DEAL" (now known as "The Big Effin' Debacle")

"Those Democrats leering over my shoulder owe me bigtime.
The healthcare bill insures we get a permanent Democratic majority."

" All except those Tea Party types, swallowed hook, line and sinker my promises that they could:

(1) keep their existing health plans,
(2) keep their own doctors that they like,
(3) keep their 25-year-olds on the family health plan,
(4) never be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition,
(5) sign up instantly on my tech-savvy government Web site,
(6) buy insurance only after becoming seriously ill."
(7) save $2,500 in annual premiums in the bargain....
(8) All without any new taxes."

"Them sonovagun Tea Partiers will rue the day they criticized my wonderful bill."

[Don Corleone]

My question? What replaces Obamacare if it is repealed? How is it done? IOW they have done so much damage to the present medical system in its entirety that it literally may be Humpty Dumptys broken and irreparable crown. It looks like a restart from ground zero will be necessary and that may bring about almost as much pain and suffering as Pelosie’s poison pill.

[FlingWingFlyer]

ObammieCare. The Mother of All Abortions! What a mess. Lord help us!

[Alberta's Child]

Unfortunately, the Tea Party lost a lot of credibility when it came out and opposed these Medicare cuts. The irony of having a conservative group centered around the idea of fiscal responsibility clamoring against cuts in a massive, unsustainable Federal entitlement program like Medicare was apparently lost on a lot of their members.

[bert]

a signature on Medicare advantage cuts is like signing your own death warant

[VerySadAmerican]

Those senators and house members that voted for this had to have been blackmailed. They love the power and the perks and they knew their votes might cost them. But they voted for it anyway.

[GeronL]

They voted for it before they were against it

[Liz]

Yes, opposing cuts was bad enough, but the Greater Evil
was that Obama was using the money to finance Obamacare.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: My question? What replaces Obamacare if it is repealed? How is it done?

If I were dictator for a week, here’s what I would do:

1) Revert everything to what we had before Obamacare was singed into law.

2) Open up COMPETITION of health care providers across state lines.

3) Tax credit to everyone for opening up a personal health savings account that is portable regardless of one’s employment situation. Offer individuals who are uninsured, self-employed, or working at a small business tax credits for health coverage to help them be able to buy a plan and keep it.

NO MANDATED COVERAGE.

4) REDUCE tort litigation, awards, damages and/or compensation.

5) Allow small businesses to band together for coverage – like large corporations do – to negotiate a better deal for health coverage.

6) Let States set up high-risk pools that ensure access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. Have insurance companies share the costs of treating high-risk individuals.

[TalBlack]

Amazing.

These Assholes steered the ship DIRECTLY AT a cluster of MASSIVE icebergs and now they’re running around screaming of an impending collision with....ICEBERGS!

Amazing.

[FES0844]

Shoulda listened to Michelle Bachman’s warnings.

[Arrowhead1952]

Hey dems, you can’t unring a bell.

[Mike Darancette]

What did those Democrat chumps think was going to happen when they took $700 Billion out of Medicare. If you like your Medicare Advantage, you can keep your Medicare Advantage, but you will have to pay more and get less coverage.