Perhaps you've heard or seen that advertisement showing Paul Ryan (or somesuch Republican) pushing dear old granny off the cliff--literally--by reforming Medicare. (PS, go watch the video, it's pretty interesting to see some people' idea of rational discussion.)
But the dirty little secret is that Obamacare has ALREADY changed Medicare.
Let's see----
- Well, first of all, Obamacare has cut over a half-a-trillion dollars from the Medicare budget. Now, that's a BIG change. For the worse, with all the baby boomers retiring and hitting Medicare age.
- Next, Obamacare has replaced traditional fee-for-service with 30% cuts in physician re-imbursements. This, by the way, is why doctors are dropping out of Medicare and why your older relatives can't find a doctor to take care of them. Doctors will be losing money seeing Medicare payments. And believe it or not, doctors have bills to pay (such as rent and employee salaries) and can't lose money on patients!
- Finally, Obamacare created the Independent Payment Advisory Board, or IPAB, which will be a group of 15 UNELECTED people in charge of making sure Medicare spends less money. If this unelected and unaccountable (to We, The People) board can't cut Medicare down to size, then the Secretary of Health and Human Services is authorized to do whatever is necessary to cut costs, without Congressional approval.
So, you see, things WILL change, and probably not for the better.
Who's really pushing Grandma off the cliff?
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