ObamaCare's Calculated Deception

"President Obama said that his health overhaul plan includes no Medicare cuts, telling seniors: '[D]on't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut.' He continued, 'The only thing this plan would eliminate is the ... unwarranted subsidies in Medicare that go to insurance companies--subsidies that do everything to pad their profits but don't improve the care of seniors.'

"What Obama is talking about here is $177 billion in cuts for Medicare Advantage--the private insurance options that almost one-fourth of seniors have chosen for their coverage under Medicare. Republicans enacted this choice for seniors, and close to 10 million retirees have chosen one of these private insurance options because they get better benefits from it than from standard Medicare.

"At a minimum, Obama's cuts will force these plans to cut back on their benefits for seniors. Or the Medicare Advantage plans may just go out of business altogether, dumping all the seniors who have made that choice because they think they are getting a better deal from those plans. Does Obama's quote above regarding this component of his health plan honestly explain to you what is involved? Or does it seem calculated to deceive you?

"Obama's health overhaul plan also includes cuts in 'hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and fraud' in Medicare. What Obama is talking about here is over $300 billion in additional Medicare cuts, for a total of $500 billion, for payments to doctors and hospitals. In response, doctors and hospitals will cut back on the services and care they provide to seniors. This is the beginning of the health care rationing in Obama's plan. Calling these just cuts in 'waste and fraud' is again a calculated deception.

"Obama promises seniors in his speech 'not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.' But what Obama doesn't tell us is that only Medicare payroll taxes are devoted to the Medicare trust fund. In addition, Medicare is heavily financed by general revenues, and Medicare cuts could provide general revenue savings that do not involve taking money out of the Medicare trust fund. Such general revenue savings wouldn't be put into the trust fund in the first place. Again, does Obama's discussion of this sound like calculated deception?

"President Obama expects credit for these Medicare cuts when promising 'I will not sign a plan that adds ... one dime to the deficit, now or in the future' and 'The plan will not add to our deficit.' But even with these Medicare cuts, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has officially scored the plan as adding hundreds of billions to the deficit.

"Obama also said during the campaign that those earning less than $250,000 per year would not pay one more dime in taxes in any form. But under Obama's health plan, individuals not covered will be forced to pay a special tax."