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President Obama's Medicare Trick

grip

grip

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President Obama Medicare slush fund- NYPOST

Call it President Obama’s Committee for the Re-Election of the President — a political slush fund at the Health and Human Services Department.

The most oppressive aspects of the ObamaCare law don’t kick in until after the 2012 election, when the president will no longer be answerable to voters.
But certain voters would surely notice one highly painful part of the law before then — namely, the way it guts the popular Medicare Advantage program.

For years, 12 million seniors have relied on these policies, a more market-oriented alternative to traditional Medicare, without the aggravating gaps in coverage.

But as part of its hundreds of billions in Medicare cuts, the Obama one-size-fits-all plan slashes reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage starting next year — herding many seniors back into the government-run program.

Under federal “open-enrollment” guidelines, seniors must pick their Medicare coverage program for next year by the end of this year — which means they should be finding out before Election Day.
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Isn't this a nice thing to do before you run for election?

I wondered why my mom was getting calls from Humana trying to switch her into a Medicaid plan. She doesn't have the resources to do well with just Medicare and her health issues. I guess we won't understand, until we're all too old to fend for ourselves.
 
grip said:
President Obama Medicare slush fund- NYPOST

Isn't this a nice thing to do before you run for election?

I wondered why my mom was getting calls from Humana trying to switch her into a Medicaid plan. She doesn't have the resources to do well with just Medicare and her health issues. I guess we won't understand, until we're all too old to fend for ourselves.
Click to expand...

I know two seniors on Medicare Advantage. Both of them get their medications for practically nothing.

And both are worth over $1 million.

Ask me if I'm sorry it'll be "slashed."
 
grip said:
President Obama Medicare slush fund- NYPOST




Isn't this a nice thing to do before you run for election?

I wondered why my mom was getting calls from Humana trying to switch her into a Medicaid plan. She doesn't have the resources to do well with just Medicare and her health issues. I guess we won't understand, until we're all too old to fend for ourselves.
Click to expand...

The insurers have been swindling the Govt. and reaping billions in excess profits from the Medicare Advantage Program. We can't afford it anymore. You Republicans want it continued and for it's waste to continue too. The more we waste the quicker Medicare will go bankrupt which is what you really want.
 
MaggieD said:
I know two seniors on Medicare Advantage. Both of them get their medications for practically nothing.

And both are worth over $1 million.

Ask me if I'm sorry it'll be "slashed."
Click to expand...

You're absolutely right I will tell her to get on Medicaid, which is better coverage for free.

She was trying not to be a bum, but since there's such compassion because a few abuse it why not?

Unless you're saying you're not sorry about Medicaid either?

I mean really, tax payers for 60 yrs get no safety net because the govn allows a system to be abused?
 
grip said:
You're absolutely right I will tell her to get on Medicaid, which is better coverage for free.

She was trying not to be a bum, but since there's such compassion because a few abuse it why not?

Unless you're saying you're not sorry about Medicaid either?

I mean really, tax payers for 60 yrs get no safety net because the govn allows a system to be abused?
Click to expand...

Whatever she qualifies for. I'm the last one in the world to begrudge health coverage. Sorry if I don't sound sympathetic that people with over a million in assets qualify for Medicare Advantage.

They would not qualify for Medicaid.
 
grip said:
President Obama Medicare slush fund- NYPOST




Isn't this a nice thing to do before you run for election?

I wondered why my mom was getting calls from Humana trying to switch her into a Medicaid plan. She doesn't have the resources to do well with just Medicare and her health issues. I guess we won't understand, until we're all too old to fend for ourselves.
Click to expand...

This is on NY post. Part of the corrupt murdoch empire.
 
I'm confused. Medicaid and Medicare are 2 different things.

My ex-wife is on Medicaid (she has no money) and I'm on Medicare (I do have money). I could have kept regular Medicare which works anywhere but I decided to go with Medicare Advantage which only works regionally since I rarely travel.

The company I went with includes Part D medications in their plan. They won't pay for a lot of medications. I pay retail for my pain meds, my Xanax and my Advair. They pay for things like antibiotics.

What is the issue with this? I get Medicare because of my age, no other reason. They charge me $100 a month plus of course I pay Medicare on any income I have.

I'm not arguing, I'm trying to understand the resentment. Explanation will be appreciated and respected. Thank you.
 
MaggieD said:
Whatever she qualifies for. I'm the last one in the world to begrudge health coverage. Sorry if I don't sound sympathetic that people with over a million in assets qualify for Medicare Advantage.

They would not qualify for Medicaid.
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Sorry Maggie.

I thought temp funding a program to get elected that you have no intention to keep afterwards was dirty.
 
grip said:
Sorry Maggie.

I thought temp funding a program to get elected that you have no intention to keep afterwards was dirty.
Click to expand...

The plan is phased in over time -- not just the hard parts but also a lot of the good parts that would help with the election.
 
MaggieD said:
Whatever she qualifies for. I'm the last one in the world to begrudge health coverage. Sorry if I don't sound sympathetic that people with over a million in assets qualify for Medicare Advantage.

They would not qualify for Medicaid.
Click to expand...

Isn't Medicare advantage something people pay for as supplemental insurance. If so, why would it bother you that people buy it?
 
specklebang said:
I'm confused. Medicaid and Medicare are 2 different things.

My ex-wife is on Medicaid (she has no money) and I'm on Medicare (I do have money). I could have kept regular Medicare which works anywhere but I decided to go with Medicare Advantage which only works regionally since I rarely travel.

The company I went with includes Part D medications in their plan. They won't pay for a lot of medications. I pay retail for my pain meds, my Xanax and my Advair. They pay for things like antibiotics.

What is the issue with this? I get Medicare because of my age, no other reason. They charge me $100 a month plus of course I pay Medicare on any income I have.

I'm not arguing, I'm trying to understand the resentment. Explanation will be appreciated and respected. Thank you.
Click to expand...


There is no good reason for people to be resentful of Medicare or SS, especially since those who receive it paid into the system. The problem has become a majority of seniors will use more in health benefits than they ever paid in because of rising medical costs. Originally the HMO's acted as a price mediator between the govn run Medicare (inefficient) and the healthcare industry though even that isn't staving off the rising costs. Capitalism unchecked becomes too many fingers in a limited pie and that's what we have with govn assisted programs. Government is simply sloppily large, inefficient and wasteful, allowing too many corporate hustlers to snap up American taxpayer money through business contracts.
 
washunut said:
Isn't Medicare advantage something people pay for as supplemental insurance. If so, why would it bother you that people buy it?
Click to expand...

Wash, I may be mistaken. The two people I know that I mentioned above pay nothing for their drugs because of, I thought, Medicare Advantage. Maybe I'm 100% wrong. If so, (in my very best Gilda Radner voice) -- never mind. ;)
 
The way I understand it is, Obama is pulling about 8 billion dollars out of the Medicare trust fund, to supplement Medicare Advantage until the end of the year so the seniors don't see any impact of Obamacare. See Obamacare cut Medicare Advantage to the tune of 1/2 Trillion dollars. That's how Obamacare got funded. But Obama's going to delay for a year any impact to seniors so it doesn't effect his election.

It's truly dirty politics at it's finest.
 
Ockham said:
The way I understand it is, Obama is pulling about 8 billion dollars out of the Medicare trust fund, to supplement Medicare Advantage until the end of the year so the seniors don't see any impact of Obamacare. See Obamacare cut Medicare Advantage to the tune of 1/2 Trillion dollars. That's how Obamacare got funded. But Obama's going to delay for a year any impact to seniors so it doesn't effect his election.

It's truly dirty politics at it's finest.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, he got caught. Expect to hear this again and again and again from the Romney Campaign.

"Vote For Obama So Two Months Later He Can Slash Your Medicare"
 
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iguanaman said:
The insurers have been swindling the Govt. and reaping billions in excess profits from the Medicare Advantage Program. We can't afford it anymore. You Republicans want it continued and for it's waste to continue too. The more we waste the quicker Medicare will go bankrupt which is what you really want.
Click to expand...

Actually this plan is part of the ACA (passed WITHOUT Republican support) and is designed to award bonuses to insurance companies. So is the Govt. willfully awarding insurers swindling?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/h...llion.html?ref=governmentaccountabilityoffice

Try again...:peace
 
:D It really is fun watching those who so advocated for Obamacare when they didn't know what was in it try so awkwardly to defend it now.
 
Medicare Advantage costs tax payers billions more each year to provide the same coverage that traditional Medicare provides.

Source: U.S. GAO - Medicare Advantage: CMS Should Improve the Accuracy of Risk Score Adjustments for Diagnostic Coding Practices

Obamacare merely limits the amount of money that Medicare Advantage Insurers get from the government to the same reimbursement rates of traditional Medicare. So let me get this straight, its a scandal to right wingers that private insurers can no longer be over payed for providing medicare advantage coverage and the private sector will have to compete with Medicare by getting the same amount of taxpayer money that traditional Medicare gets? Thats a scandal? Seriously?? It seems to me that the real dirty politics in this is that many Republicans are so in the pocket of the health insurance industry that they will do anything they can to make sure that the health insurance industry gets to continue to rip off taxpayers by getting billions in overpayments from the government every year.

I don't have any problem with market reforms like Medicare Advantage - provided that participating insurers do not cost taxpayers anymore than traditional Medicare. Otherwise, what is the point of having Medicare Advantage other than to funnel government money to private insurers.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2009/10/the_medicare_advantage_scam.html
 
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SouthernDemocrat said:
Medicare Advantage costs tax payers billions more each year to provide the same coverage that traditional Medicare provides.

Source: U.S. GAO - Medicare Advantage: CMS Should Improve the Accuracy of Risk Score Adjustments for Diagnostic Coding Practices

Obamacare merely limits the amount of money that Medicare Advantage Insurers get from the government to the same reimbursement rates of traditional Medicare. So let me get this straight, its a scandal to right wingers that private insurers can no longer be over payed for providing medicare advantage coverage and the private sector will have to compete with Medicare by getting the same amount of taxpayer money that traditional Medicare gets? Thats a scandal? Seriously?? It seems to me that the real dirty politics in this is that many Republicans are so in the pocket of the health insurance industry that they will do anything they can to make sure that the health insurance industry gets to continue to rip off taxpayers by getting billions in overpayments from the government every year.

I don't have any problem with market reforms like Medicare Advantage - provided that participating insurers do not cost taxpayers anymore than traditional Medicare. Otherwise, what is the point of having Medicare Advantage other than to funnel government money to private insurers.

Ezra Klein - The Medicare Advantage Scam
Click to expand...

As I understand it, this was a trial program that was intended to improve the product by awarding bonuses to the best performing plans -- a rather free market concept. The criticism seems to be that the administration isn't being as selective as it should be in awarding the bonuses. If that's the case then they should correct it. No reform of this magnitude is going to be perfect right out of the gate.
 
AdamT said:
As I understand it, this was a trial program that was intended to improve the product by awarding bonuses to the best performing plans -- a rather free market concept. The criticism seems to be that the administration isn't being as selective as it should be in awarding the bonuses. If that's the case then they should correct it. No reform of this magnitude is going to be perfect right out of the gate.
Click to expand...

Its my understanding that all the ranting about Medicare cuts on the right have been about the cuts related to Medicare Advantage. What is the point of privatizing a program or introducing market reforms to it if it costs us more than the original program did? If you are on Medicare Advantage, then you are costing the taxpayer anywhere from 9 to 14% more on average than someone on traditional Medicare. Why on earth is addressing that controversial at all?
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Its my understanding that all the ranting about Medicare cuts on the right have been about the cuts related to Medicare Advantage. What is the point of privatizing a program or introducing market reforms to it if it costs us more than the original program did? If you are on Medicare Advantage, then you are costing the taxpayer anywhere from 9 to 14% more on average than someone on traditional Medicare. Why on earth is addressing that controversial at all?
Click to expand...

Well let's be honest: they don't give a crap about it. They're just looking for any excuse to ding Obama. I mean seriously, they're going to talk about Obama's modest Medicare cuts when their proposed budget would gut the program?
 
AdamT said:
Well let's be honest: they don't give a crap about it. They're just looking for any excuse to ding Obama. I mean seriously, they're going to talk about Obama's modest Medicare cuts when their proposed budget would gut the program?
Click to expand...

Its all a sham and they know it. The entire reason for Medicare is that there was no way for the private sector to provide health coverage to seniors once they got over 65 or so without charging rates that the vast majority of seniors (even fairly wealthy ones) could afford. That hasn't changed over 40 years later, its only gotten worse. The vast majority of people will die while being covered by some sort of public sector provided health coverage (Medicare or Medicaid). I don't care if you earn 100k a year, most likely, unless you are hit by a bus at a young age, you will still depend on the government when you grow old, and sick, and die. Just because right wingers don't want to accept that, doesn't mean that is not the way it is. After all, the guy that started this thread basically bitched that if they did away with Medicare Advantage, they would recommend their loved ones get on Medicaid.
 
From the OP article....


"...For years, 12 million seniors have relied on these policies, a more market-oriented alternative to traditional Medicare, without the aggravating gaps in coverage.

But as part of its hundreds of billions in Medicare cuts, the Obama one-size-fits-all plan slashes reimbursement rates for Medicare Advantage starting next year — herding many seniors back into the government-run program.
President Obama Medicare slush fund- NYPOST

The article praises the market driven insurance plans in Medicare Advantage on the one hand and then complains that the government will be cutting subsidies to private insurance on the other. Does this mean that free marketers like gubamint handouts?

In spite of what the article says I think that cutting funding for private insurance was part of the plan since the seniors are paying for their Medicare Advantage private insurance out of their own pockets. I doubt these cuts come as a surprise to the insurance companies...or the doctors.
 
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AdamT said:
As I understand it, this was a trial program that was intended to improve the product by awarding bonuses to the best performing plans -- a rather free market concept. The criticism seems to be that the administration isn't being as selective as it should be in awarding the bonuses. If that's the case then they should correct it. No reform of this magnitude is going to be perfect right out of the gate.
Click to expand...

The GAO indicated that only 1/3 of the existing Medicare Advantage members would qualify for the "bonuses", under the ACA acts high standards. With HHS stepping in and declaring an "experiment", they are going to boost that qualification to 90%.

There are only political reasons for HHS to abandon their own newly imposed high standards.
 
Samhain said:
The GAO indicated that only 1/3 of the existing Medicare Advantage members would qualify for the "bonuses", under the ACA acts high standards. With HHS stepping in and declaring an "experiment", they are going to boost that qualification to 90%.

There are only political reasons for HHS to abandon their own newly imposed high standards.
Click to expand...

I agree -- it sounds dubious.
 
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