Posted on 09/08/2012 8:43:44 PM PDT by chessplayer
I know that every campaign promise Barack Obama makes has an expiration date … but this is ridiculous. The confetti is barely off the floor at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina after Obama’s acceptance speech, and already we find out that he’s flip-flopped. Remember this part of the speech, in which he attacks the Paul Ryan plan to apply free-market reform and cost controls to Medicare?
And I will — I will never turn Medicare into a voucher.
"No American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies. They should retire with the care and the dignity they have earned. Yes, we will reform and strengthen Medicare for the long haul, but we’ll do it by reducing the cost of health care, not by asking seniors to pay thousands of dollars more. And we will keep the promise of Social Security by taking the responsible steps to strengthen it, not by turning it over to Wall Street."
Expiration date — the very next day:
"In his convention speech in Charlotte, President Obama vowed to block the Republican Medicare reform plan because “no American should ever have to spend their golden years at the mercy of insurance companies.”
"But back in Washington, his Health and Human Services Department is launching a pilot program that would shift up to 2 million of the poorest and most-vulnerable seniors out of the federal Medicare program and into private health insurance plans overseen by the states."
Those of us on Medicare and Tricare Live will feel the effects most. They already are paying the docs and providers at a 20 cent Per $ return which is causing docs to refuse us as patients. More and more signs are going up in docs offices as “no new Medicare patients’
No, they have not “created” these dual eligibles in order to control anything. Policy affecting duals has been around since the creation of both systems. Pilots such as this, approved under the authority of section 1115 of ssa, are common in all of the states. The state submits the proposal to CMS for approval, CMS approves with an expiration date, and if the state wants to renew it must resubmit with evidence of cost effectiveness evidence. HHS cannot and does not propose and approve anything.
This is a poorly written article showing little to no understanding of the program processes for the dual eligible system and demonstration processes used by states. With a little research the author would know that similar demonstrations are approved and running in other states, some with republican leadership.
Oh for goodness sakes. I want OFF this upside down world....I don’t like it one bit!
The Lord CANNOT return quick enough!
Outcomes are overall worst in government health care programs versus either private insurance or, more shockingly, no insurance at all.
Bureaucrats aren’t good at anything. Why give them a chance to run your health?
Apparently, many who back ObamaIdiot are either in perpetual denial or simply Kool-Aid drinking idiots given ObamaIdiot became POTUS based upon lies and is now attempting to gain a second term .... based upon lies. =.=
Thank goodness that these doctors still maintain the freedom to refuse Medicare patients. If the late Ted Kennedy and other lefties had gotten their way, refusal to treat Medicare patients according to government-imposed terms by a doctor would be a federal crime and such an office would be shut down by the feds.
I've been helping seniors, both rich and poor with health insurance since before there was either Medicare or Medicaid or a President LBJ. I throw that in before you come back with your comeback.
Yes I work in CMS and have been reviewing Medicaid SPAs, waivers, demonstrations and Title 19 and 21 programs for years.
It means death panels for seniors and truly disabled.
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