ObamaCare Cut Over $500 Billion From Medicare, Including $200 Billion From Medicare Advantage
Over two years ago, after admitting to Floridians that ObamaCare would slash $550 billion from Medicare – including $200 billion from Medicare Advantage – liberal United States Senator Bill Nelson provided President Barack Obama with a crucial vote for his job-killing healthcare bill.
Now a new report confirms that seniors in Florida could soon lose their Medicare Advantage benefits due to this burdensome, job-killing healthcare law.
As The Hill reports:
“Seniors in a number of states risk losing their Medicare Advantage benefits because of cuts in President Obama’s healthcare reform law, according to a new report from Avalere. The law contains about $200 billion in direct and indirect cuts to private Medicare plans through 2017.” (Julian Pecquet, Report: Healthcare law cuts put Medicare Advantage benefits at risk in some states, The Hill, 03/12/12)
“Just as even Bill Nelson predicted two years ago, Florida seniors are paying a price for his vote for ObamaCare” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Jahan Wilcox.
BACKGROUND …
Bill Nelson Warned Barack Obama That His Healthcare Law Was A Raw Deal For Seniors In Florida
Yet Nelson Still Provided The Deciding Vote For Obama’s Healthcare Law
- Nelson Voted To Pass The Health Care Reconciliation Bill. (H.R. 4872, CQ Vote #105: Passed 56-43: R 0-40; D 54-3; I 2-0, 3/25/10, Nelson Voted Yea)
- Nelson Also Voted To Kill An Amendment That Would Have Prevented Cuts To Medicare Advantage. (H.R. 4872, CQ Vote #72: Motion agreed to 56-42: R 0-40; D 54-2; I 2-0, 3/24/10, Nelson Voted Yea)
Which Cut $500 Billion From Medicare – Including $200 Billion From Medicare Advantage
The Health Care Bill Cut Medicare By Roughly “$500 Billion Over The Next Decade.” “To cover the cost of those changes, the compromise would impose a 3.8 percent Medicare tax on investment income for wealthy taxpayers, a levy that would come in addition to a Senate-proposed increase in the regular payroll tax for those families. And it would slice an additional $60 billion from Medicare, with the privately run program known as Medicare Advantage targeted for particularly deep cuts, bringing the total reduction in projected spending on the program to more than $500 billion over the next decade.” (Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane, “House Leaders Announce $940 Billion Health-Care Compromise Bill,” The Washington Post, 3/19/10)
$200 BILLION IN CUTS TO MEDICARE ADVANTAGE:
- “Medicare Advantage Payments… -131.9 [Billion Dollars].” “TITLE III—Improving The Quality And Efficiency Of Health Care; Subtitle C—Provisions Relating to Part C; Medicare Advantage Payments… 2010-2019… -131.9 [Billion Dollars].” (CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, Letter To Rep. Pelosi, 3/18/10, P. 13)
- “Medicare Advantage Interactions… -70.4 [Billion Dollars].” “Interactions; Medicare Advantage Interactions… 2010-2019… -70.4 [Billion Dollars].” (CBO Director Doug Elmendorf, Letter To Rep. Pelosi, 3/18/10, P. 18)
Nelson Said It Was “Unconscionable” And “Intolerable” To Cut Seniors’ Medicare
During A Finance Committee Markup, Nelson Called It “Unconscionable” To Ask Seniors To Give Up Their Existing Medicare Advantage Benefits. BILL NELSON: “But I don’t think that it’s the right thing to ask senior citizens to give up their existing Medicare Advantage benefits because there are hundreds of thousands of senior citizens who didn’t conceive of Medicare Advantage but who have come to rely on it. And I intend to offer an amendment that will shield them from benefit cuts. It’ll be called a grandfather, to grandfather them in. … And to suddenly whack it away from the, I think, is unconscionable. You can’t punish the seniors who signed up. And if changes must be made for the future solvency of Medicare, then I think those seniors ought to be grandfathered in.” (Senator Bill Nelson, Remarks At Senate Finance Committee Health Care Hearing, 9/22/09)
Nelson Said It Was “A Non-Starter” To Tell Senior Citizens They Have To Give Up Their Medicare Advantage. NELSON: “But I don’t think it’s a good thing to go in and to tell these senior citizens what you have now, you’ve got to give up. That is a non-starter. And it is particularly a non- starter to any senior citizen that is having difficulty meeting — making financial ends meet. So what I want to do is to say those senior citizens that have it, you’re not going to lose it.” (Senator Bill Nelson, Remarks At Senate Finance Committee Health Care Hearing, 9/24/09)
Nelson Said It Would Be “Intolerable To Ask The Senior Citizens Who Have (Medicare Advantage) To Give Up Substantial Health Benefits That They’re Enjoying.” “Sen. Nelson also opposes cuts to Medicare Advantage, essentially a collection of Medicare HMOs approved in 2003, even though he voted against creating them. But now that they’re in existence, he says, ‘I think it would be intolerable to ask the senior citizens who have (Medicare Advantage) to give up substantial health benefits that they’re enjoying.’” (Editorial, “Nelson Has To Be On Call For This Issue,” Palm Beach Post, 9/20/09)
Nelson Said “You Can’t Go Away And Take Something That Our Senior Citizens Have.” “The current proposal would cut Medicare payments to insurers and, Nelson and others fear, would mean diminished extras such as eye care and health club memberships. ‘You can’t go away and take something that our senior citizens have,” Nelson said, adding he voted against creation of the advantage plans.” (Alex Leary, “‘Public Option’ Withers In Reform,” St. Petersburg Times, 9/15/09)
