Posted on 06/13/2009 12:51:57 AM PDT by Cindy
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Weekly-Address-and-Fact-Sheet-New-Savings-Announcement/
THE BRIEFING ROOM
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________ EMBARGOED UNTIL 6:00 AM ET, SATURDAY, June 13, 2009
WEEKLY ADDRESS: President Obama Outlines More than $300 Billion in new Medicare and Medicaid Savings
WASHINGTON – In his weekly address, President Barack Obama announced new Medicare and Medicaid savings proposals that will contribute more than $300 billion over 10 years to paying for health care reform, beyond the historic $635 billion down payment included in his FY 2010 Budget. The President stressed in the address that the health reform effort must be deficit neutral and that reform is a fundamental part of the solution to our long-term fiscal problems.
Please find attached a fact sheet detailing the new savings proposed by President Obama today.
The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can be viewed online at www.whitehouse.gov.
Remarks of President Barack Obama Weekly Address Saturday, June 13, 2009
Last week, I spoke to you about my commitment to work with Congress to pass health care reform this year. Today, I’d like to speak about how that effort is essential to restoring fiscal responsibility.
When it comes to the cost of health care, this much is clear: the status quo is unsustainable for families, businesses, and government. America spends nearly 50 percent more per person on health care than any other country. Health care premiums have doubled over the last decade, deductibles and out-of-pocket costs have skyrocketed, and many with preexisting conditions are denied coverage. More and more, Americans are being priced out of the care they need.
These costs are also hurting business, as some big businesses are at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign counterparts, and some small businesses are forced to cut benefits, drop coverage, or even lay off workers. Meanwhile, Medicare and Medicaid pose one of the greatest threats to our federal deficit, and could leave our children with a mountain of debt that they cannot pay.
We cannot continue down this path. I do not accept a future where Americans forego health care because they can’t pay for it, and more and more families go without coverage at all. And I don’t accept a future where American business is hurt and our government goes broke. We have a responsibility to act, and to act now. That is why I’m working with Congress to pass reform that lowers costs, improves quality and coverage, and protects consumer health care choices.
I know some question whether we can afford to act this year. But the unmistakable truth is that it would be irresponsible to not act. We can’t keep shifting a growing burden to future generations. With each passing year, health care costs consume a larger share of our nation’s spending, and contribute to yawning deficits that we cannot control. So let me be clear: health care reform is not part of the problem when it comes to our fiscal future, it is a fundamental part of the solution.
Real reform will mean reductions in our long term budget. And I have made a firm commitment that health care reform will not add to the federal deficit over the next decade. To keep that commitment, my Administration has already identified how to pay for the historic $635 billion down payment on reform detailed in our budget. This includes over $300 billion that we will save through changes like reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers, and rooting out waste in Medicare and Medicaid.
However, any honest accounting must prepare for the fact that health care reform will require additional costs in the short term in order to reduce spending in the long-term. So today, I am announcing an additional $313 billion in savings that will rein in unnecessary spending, and increase efficiency and the quality of care – savings that will ensure that we have nearly $950 billion set aside to offset the cost of health care reform over the next ten years.
These savings will come from commonsense changes. For example – if more Americans are insured, we can cut payments that help hospitals treat patients without health insurance. If the drug makers pay their fair share, we can cut government spending on prescription drugs. And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care, we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that drive up costs. For more details about these and other savings, you can visit our website: www.whitehouse.gov.
These savings underscore the fact that securing quality, affordable health care for the American people is tied directly to insisting upon fiscal responsibility. And these savings are rooted in the same principle that must guide our broader approach to reform: we will fix what’s broken, while building upon what works. If you like your plan and your doctor, you can keep them – the only changes that you’ll see are lower costs and better health care.
For too long, we have stood by while our health care system has frayed at the seams. While there has been excuse after excuse to delay reform, the price of care has gone up for individuals, for business, and for the government. This time must be different. This is the moment when we must reform health care so that we can build a new foundation for our economy to grow; for our people to thrive; and for our country to pursue a responsible and sustainable path. Thank you.
If Obama really wanted to save lots of money in medical expenses starting right now, just send the illegal aliens back home.
My first thought after reading this drivel is - who can be stupid enough to believe any of it? It is pure fantasy. But, as long as there are democrats, I guess there will be believers.
TO the meat of the matter....
“These savings will come from commonsense changes. For example – if more Americans are insured, we can cut payments that help hospitals treat patients without health insurance. If the drug makers pay their fair share, we can cut government spending on prescription drugs. And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care, we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that drive up costs.”
1. If more Americans are insured... This saving will only occur if his new healthplan is passed.
2. If the drug makers pay their fair share... Drug makers lose their profits.
3. And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care... That’s either penalties by the government for “excessive care” or tax money to the doctors for “approved care”.
‘And there is no way we can afford “free” medical care.’
If “free” Medicaid and Medicare are ALREADY unaffordable, how are we going to afford to add MORE people to the plans? Won’t that just raise the cost proportionately?
Note to self: Any transition between private medical care and government run care will be chaos. Many doctors won’t take medicaid now, some won’t take medicare because they are (purposefully) paid less than they are paid through other insurance. At some point, it will be impossible to find a doctor who willingly takes either plan unless they are ‘forced’ to do so...at which point I imagine they will (have no choice but to) become employees of the government.
Anyone who thinks government run health care will work, hasn’t had to go on Medicaid or Medicare. On the flip side, here in Ohio, the ‘government’ won’t even administer Medicaid...it’s all been pawned back off to....insurance companies.
I took my wife to an ENT doctor last week.
There was a sign over the check-in desk.
It listed acceptable insurance providers.
One on the 'No' list was Medicare Complete.
(may have been the only one, don't remember any other)
I’m sure the AARP will scream and howl like they did at Bush, and this is far worse than what Bush proposed (limit Medicare growth to 7% a year was the proposal). I will not hold my breath waiting to hear from the AARP (a democrat subsidy).
[[“Health care reform is no longer just a moral imperative, it is a fiscal imperative. If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy, then we must address the crushing cost of health care this year, in this Administration.”]]
Translation:
“Health care reform is a moral imperative, and anyone that doesn’t agree with me is a terrorist right wing nut- it is also a fiscal imperative, and that is why I am going to ax critical care for hte elderly, because they are costing this coutnry too much keeping htem healthy. If we want to create jobs and rebuild our economy for hte young and healthy, then we must address the crushing cost of health care this year by cutting health care for htose who are too sick to fend for themselves, in this Administration.”
[[If “free” Medicaid and Medicare are ALREADY unaffordable, how are we going to afford to add MORE people to the plans? Won’t that just raise the cost proportionately?]]
Don’tchaknow? We are goign to pay for it by spending like drunken sailors! That’s the hwole brilliant plan behind the 2-3 trillion dollar ‘stimulus plan’- spend spend spend (and when noone is looking, keep borrowing from China- further indebting us to hte communist regime)- Oh yeah, that and cutting health care to the elderly, the sick and other undesirables who are making life on the healthy too costly. When al lthe elderly and sick are gone, then where the money is goign to come from is a mystery- but rest assured, the dems will have another ‘answer’ by then. And let’s not forget- we’ll pay for universal health care by offerign it to illegal aliens as well- just keep doling out hte money, and somehow, someway, money will pop out of nowhere to pay for everything.
Change- America- You weanted it- now reap the whirlwind!
Medicare and Medicaid are cutting/will cut vision and dental plans in some places. Don’t get me wrong, I’m really grateful some family members who are elderly/disabled, and a few younger members who are now on disablility because of illness are able to get it!
Sure I’m grateful for these programs for their benefit, because they really need them now. But one of my daughters, who is medically disabled for now, already lost her vision benefits. She just got a letter that tells her that in the fall, she’ll lose her dental plan also! She used these plans wisely when she had them, but she’ll lose on these as well as the ones that abuse them!
What else are they going to cut?
I guess they’ll have to run out to the money tree forest run by Obama and his rich, powerful, and shadowy supporters and backers(puppetmasters). They can pick off a handful, and away they go!
Currently, the Federal government requires that State have in place very stringent “crowd-out” policies, which prevent those who are eligible for government healthcare coverage from jumping from their private or employee insurance to government paid insurance. Most states require eligibles to be without coverage for 6 months, and that insurance be terminated involuntarily. What’s going to happen is that The Guy with the Ears will demand that all states suspend their crowd-out strategies, and that this regulation be stricken from the CFR. Bush was very adamant that states observe crowd-out, and that states also must show an enrollment of 95% before they could suspend them for an approved temporary period of time. This will all go away now with the stroke of a pen, unless our insurance lobbyists can get really busy and go to the Hill to fight this.
BTTT
Are you saying that she was on Medicaid and the State is dropping her dental plan? Most states are using this ARRA and CHIPRA time to start adding to their State plans, or revise what they already have. Are you in Utah?
Just Another F*cking Lie by Hussein!
The new AmeriKans are lovin’ it.
“These savings will come from commonsense changes. For example, if more Americans are insured, we can cut payments that help hospitals treat patients without health insurance.”
What BULLSH*T! Translated, it means that the ones who are insured will have to pay for the 38 million illegals who are already getting treated, for free, in the ER, driving up the cost of health care to the payor. Every time that somebosy says we have “47 million of uninsured people,” you now know who comprises the bulk of that statistic.
What “payments” is he going to “cut?” Payments to the insured or to the provider? My guess is cutting payments to the insured, meaning lower reimburements and higher co-pays.
“If the drug makers pay their fair share, we can cut government spending on prescription drugs.”
WTF is their “fair share?” The government could lower drug costs by reducing the FDA’s regulations and red tape in getting generics approved for the market. The FDA does not use any of this time for testing purposes. They never have. They still leave it up to the drug manufacturers to do “clinical trials,” even when so many of them continue to fudge their test data.
The government could lower costs right now if they force drug companies to stop turning out “me, too” drugs that are simply combinations of existing ones, for example, pain medications to which Tylenol has been added.
“And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care, we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that drive up costs.”
MALPRACTICE INSURANCE DRIVES UP COSTS and becomes more and more expensive for a doctor or provider to buy due to so many malpractice lawsuits brought for trivial reasons. To CYA, hospitals and doctors run more and more tests, so there will never be a reduction in testing without concomitant personal liability protection at a reasonable price and stricter limits and penalties placed on frivolous lawsuits.
When a hospital shells out $2 million for a new MRI, they don’t let it sit in a corner, gathering dust: they use it as much as possible on paying patients. Duh, that’s how they get recoup their costs.
And, it oftens pays off in spotting a disease earlier than if there wasn’t one available.
So much for the wisdom of cutting back on tests.
Let the old folks die? A MUST READ
This could be YOU!
Let the old folks die, don’t waste money on treatment, let’s run a little lethal injection thru the veins of D.C. Most of you know by now that the Senate version (at least) of the “stimulus” bill includes provisions for extensive rationing of health care for senior citizens. The author of this part of the bill, former senator and tax evader, Tom Daschle was credited today by Bloomberg with the following statement. Bloomberg: “Daschle says health-care reform “will not be pain free.” Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them.” If this does not sufficiently raise your ire, just remember that Senators and Congressmen have their own healthcare plan that is first dollar or very low co-pay which they are guaranteed the remainder of their lives and are not subject to this new law if it passes.
Please use the power of the Internet to get this message out. Talk it up at the grassroots level. We have an election coming up in one year and nine months. We have the ability to address and reverse the dangerous direction the Obama administration and it allies have begun and in the interim, we can make their lives miserable. Let’s do it!
To confirm the story, see Bloomberg article link below, just click link below.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs
Instead of Hitler’s Final Solution; this will be the Liberal Final Solution courtesy of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, and the US Congress. You can reach them at 202-225-3121
Let your comments be heard while you still have that right.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
That's what banking industry execs thought. That's what mortgage lending execs thought. That's what auto industry execs thought. That's what Chrysler bond holders thought. That's what Chrysler dealership owners thought. That's what the families of 9/11 victims thought. That's what the families of U.S.S. Cole bombing victims thought. That's what Hillary thought. That's what the far left base holding a bag of empty promises thought.
Folks, this is not your daddy's United States anymore.
excellent post polarik-
[[“And if doctors have incentives to provide the best care instead of more care, we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays, treatments, and tests that drive up costs.”]]
“The best care” In otherwords- the government is going to be dictating which tests will be approved AFTER a lengthy review/red tape, and ONLY the most critical care/tests will be approved, while tests and care that treat real ailments that can’t be nailed down with a diagnosis, will be uncovered, and millions of people will have to go without medications that treat their undiagnosed pain, exhaustion etc
[[we can help Americans avoid the unnecessary hospital stays,]]
Translation- We can DENY help for people who aren’t critical but still NEED medical help.
Get ready for a bunch of beurocratic bull crap/red-tape, while waiting months to get your needed treatment/care approved, and be prepared for hte government to make descisions for you as to whether you need it or not, and be prepared to be DENIED and be prepared to be made to feel the fool for seeking help for anything that isn’t critical
Note: Here’s a fact sheet that includes a chart. I can’t copy and paste the chart in the same format as the whitehouse.gov website, so you may want to view the chart there.
Note: The following text is a quote:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/MedicareFactSheetFinal/
Paying for Health Care Reform
$313 Billion in Additional Savings to Create a Deficit Neutral Plan
We have the most expensive health care system in the world, but do not get the best results. The rising costs of health care are a burden on our families and a drain on our long-term economic growth. If we continue on the course we are on, health care expenditures will reach 20 percent of GDP within a decade. Rapidly rising health care costs are leading our nation down a fiscally unsustainable path.
For the health of the American people and the health of our economy, we must act now to bring down health care costs and reform the health care system. It is central to the long-term prosperity of the United States. That is why the President is committed to passing health care reform this year. Guided by the principle that we should fix what’s broken and build on what already works, the President wants to pass health care reform that allows one to keep their health insurance and choose their health care providers, expands coverage to the millions without, and brings down the cost of coverage.
The President is committed to undertaking reform that is completely paid for and deficit neutral over the next decade. That is why he put forward in his FY 2010 Budget an historic $635 billion down payment on reform. Roughly half of this amount comes from revenue proposals, including limiting the value of itemized deductions for families making over a quarter-million dollars a year to the rates they were during the Reagan years, and about half comes from savings from Medicare and Medicaid.
Since making this proposal, the Administration has worked with Congress on other ways to offset fully the cost of health care reform through additional savings and revenues. To that end, the Administration is detailing today savings proposals that will contribute another $313 billion over 10 years to paying for health care reform, bringing the total scoreable offsets put forward by the Administration to nearly $950 billion over 10 years. Together, this would extend the solvency of Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by seven years to about 2024, and reduce beneficiary premiums for physician and outpatient services by about $43 billion over the next 10 years. The Administration hopes these suggestions will help Congress as it continues to draft legislation, and remains open to any other proposals to pay for reform that Congress may put forward.
Source
Health Care Reserve Fund
($ in billions)
10 years
FY 2010 Budget
- Medicare and Medicaid Savings
- Revenues
$635
$309
$326
Additional Medicare and Medicaid Savings
- Incorporate productivity adjustments into Medicare payment
updates
- Reduce hospital subsidies for treating the uninsured as
coverage increases
- Pay better prices for Medicare Part D drugs
- Other
$313
$110
$106
$75
$22
Total
$948
Reforming the health care system does not end at expanding coverage and making sure that it is paid for; we also must address the underlying problems in our health care system that impede quality improvements and raise costs. The President therefore believes that in addition to scoreable offsets, we must take steps to transform the health care system, such as investing in health care information technology, patient-centered quality research, prevention and wellness, and in creating a system that pays providers for providing better care not just more care. Over time, these steps will help to produce a health care system that works better and costs less.
Paying for Health Care Reform: New Savings
As was emphasized when the President’s Budget was initially released, the reserve fund represents a substantial down payment but is not by itself sufficient to fully fund comprehensive reform. The President has insisted that reform must be deficit-neutral based on real savings and revenue estimates as determined by impartial scorers. Thus, in addition to the proposals included in the FY 2010 Budget, the Administration is putting forward policy options to further rein in federal health spending, make the system more efficient, and deliver better quality of care. When combined with the Budget proposals, these new options would extend the solvency of Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by seven years to about 2024. These new savings include:
Incorporate productivity adjustments into Medicare payment updates. Productivity in the U.S. economy has been improving over time. However, most Medicare payments have not been systematically adjusted to reflect these system-wide improvements. We should permanently adjust most annual Medicare payment updates by half of the economy-wide productivity factor estimated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This adjustment will encourage greater efficiency in health care provision, while more accurately aligning Medicare payments with provider costs.
Reduce subsidies to hospitals for treating the uninsured as coverage increases. Instead of paying hospitals to treat patients without health insurance, we should give people coverage so that they have insurance to begin with. As health reform phases in, the number of uninsured will go down, and we would be able to reduce payments to hospitals for treating those previously uncovered. This would be done by establishing a new mandatory mechanism to better target payments to hospitals for unreimbursed care remaining after coverage increases. Beginning in FY 2013, payments would be gradually phased down so that by 2019, funding would equal 25 percent of Medicare/Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospitals (DSH) funding in 2013, and updated by inflation.
Pay better prices for Medicare Part D drugs. In its meeting with the President and subsequent communication, the pharmaceutical industry has committed itself to helping to control the rate of growth in health care spending. There are a variety of ways to achieve this goal. For example, drug reimbursement could be reduced for beneficiaries dually eligible for Medicare and Medicaid. The Administration is working with the Congress to develop the most appropriate policy to achieve these savings.
Other Savings
Adjust payment rates for physician imaging services to better reflect actual usage. To provide more accurate payment for physician imaging services, the Department of Health and Human Services would increase the equipment utilization factor for advanced imaging (such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) machines) from 50 percent to 95 percent. This proposal – which is closely aligned with a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) recommendation – would better reflect how these technologies are actually used.
Adopt MedPAC’s recommendations for 2010 payments to skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care hospitals. To bring down costs and maintain quality, we shouldupdate payments based on MedPAC’s consideration of multiple variables, such as quality, access to care, and adequacy of payment. Doing so would implement MedPAC’s 2010 payment recommendations for skilled nursing facilities, inpatient rehabilitation facilities, and long-term care hospitals.
Cut waste, fraud, and abuse. It is important that patients get the best care, not just more care. Unnecessary treatments are not only expensive, but also can harm the health of the patient. To discourage physicians from ordering unnecessary or excessive treatment, we should increase the scrutiny of physicians in high-risk areas or those that order a high volume of high-risk services (such as home health, durable medical equipment, and home infusion therapy) through additional pre-payment review.
Paying for Health Care Reform: 2010 Budget Proposals
The above savings would be in addition to the down payment for comprehensive health care reform of $635 billion over 10 years detailed in the FY 2010 Budget. The reserve fund is financed roughly half through proposals to generate more revenue, and half through efficiencies and savings from Medicare and Medicaid. Based on our projections, the Medicare proposals contained in the reserve fund would extend the solvency date of the Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund by two years and reduce beneficiary premiums for physician and outpatient services by about $33 billion over the next 10 years. As a result of these proposals, Medicare beneficiaries will also see an improvement in the quality of their services. The reserve fund includes a broad array of savings proposals including:
Reducing Medicare overpayments to private insurers. The establishment of a competitive system where payments are based upon an average of plans’ bids submitted to Medicare would save taxpayers close to $177 billion over 10 years, as well as reduce Part B premiums.
Improving Medicare and Medicaid payment accuracy. By strengthening program integrity efforts, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will address vulnerabilities that have led to billions of dollars in overpayments and fraud each year.
Improving care after hospitalizations and reducing readmission rates. A combination of incentive payments and penalties should lead to better care and result in fewer readmissions – saving roughly $25 billion over 10 years.
Expanding the Hospital Quality Improvement Program: By linking a portion of Medicare payments for acute in-patient hospital services to hospitals’ performance on specific quality measures, quality of care for beneficiaries will improve, and Medicare will save approximately $12 billion over 10 years.
The end result, (before the FINAL result,) is that in every capitalist “western” country that has tried this, smart people refuse to become doctors, good doctors stop practicing medicine, leading to shortages of doctors and qualified nurses, which then leads to the importation of foreign, less qualified “doctors” who don’t speak English, (of whom there are already too many,) which leads to malpractice, misdiagnoses, long term disaster, and collapse of the system.
In Britain, muslim practioners’ takeover of the British national health system has resulted in insurmountable infectious diseases, filth, degradation of service, refusal of service, and so on, ad infinitum.
No body gets no thing for free.
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