President Obama: Medicare cuts here to stay

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
8/16/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

In interview, president says that third of funding for ObamaCare came from Medicare

He's a man of his word. President Barack Obama declared in 2009 that the Medicare cuts he signed as part of his ObamaCare health reform law would never be repealed. In an interview he granted in 2009 with ABC News' Jake Tapper, the president noted that nearly one-third of the bill's funding came from cutting Medicare.

The Affordable Care Act will cut Medicare by an estimated $716 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "One of the concerns about health care and how you pay for it: third of the funding comes from cuts to Medicare," Tapper said.

President Obama replied "Right."

Tapper then asked Obama whether he would let Congress to repeal or repair the Medicare cuts as it does every year with the so-called "Doc Fix," which is a measure designed to ensure adequate reimbursement payments are maintained to doctors treating Medicare patients.

Obama was adamant that his Medicare cuts were permanent and that he would never allow Congress to repeal them.

"Are you willing to pledge that whatever cuts in Medicare is being made to fund health insurance - one third of it - that you will veto anything that tries to undo that?" Tapper asked.

"Yes," the president said. "I actually have said that it is important for us to make sure this thing is deficit neutral, without tricks. I said I wouldn't sign a bill that didn't meet that criteria."

The Affordable Care Act will cut Medicare by an estimated $716 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The reductions are mostly from cuts made to Medicare payments for such items as hospital care as well as cuts to the Medicare Advantage program.

Obama and fellow Democrats have recently criticized the GOP over vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan's (R-Wisconsin) plans to reform Medicare, saying that the Republican plan will "end Medicare as we know it."

"Romney and Ryan are committed to a plan that would end Medicare as we know it. They would create a voucher system that would increase seniors' health costs," Obama's Deputy Campaign Manager Stephanie Cutter said in a recent email.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Keywords: President Obama, Medicare, Obamacare, cuts, Jake Tapper

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1 - 8 of 8 Comments

Bill Sr.
9 months ago
This is Jimmy Carter and the Department of Education all over again folks.
In October of 1979 with the federal government already funding our public school system driving out competition and spending tons of money the liberals wanted to take control of the curriculum and begin to bureaucratically teach the values conducive to secular socialism, all in the name of caring for the children of course. The empire was setting right in front of them (just like healthcare was in 2009 for Obama) when the democrats seized the opportunity unionizing the workers, setting the standards of operation, and began the dumbing down of America.
This time it is all in the name of health care for those without it. The same applies now as they seek to drive out all competition, unionize the workers, set the standards and limits of service, and begin using bureaucrats to selectively ration healthcare under the guise of reducing the costs. LOL did they reduced the cost of education. No, the costs today are two to three times the tuition of most local Catholic schools which produce two to three times more literate and well rounded citizens.
So what is in store for us when Obamacare runs short of funds as it surely will? They will, as always, only seek more taxes and more central control resulting in a huge reduction in the quality of care and service. This is the nature and character of Maxists socialism.
JoAnn
9 months ago
Bill: No! This a website for true Catholics who try to live the word of God. Politically, I would bet there are mostly "Independents" on this website. God bless.
JoAnn
9 months ago
Bill Sr. You said it in a nut-shell. Plain and simple. Thank you! God bless.
Bill Sr.
9 months ago
Bill,
Not so. More acurately a knowledgable Christian American thruthsite which understands our faith and freedoms are under attack from our very own government and it is time to awaken the public to the facts.
Bill Sr.
9 months ago
It can't get any clearer than that.
1. He took Medicare money out of the system to pay for Obamacare
2. He demands the program be deficit neutral
3. If it appears cost exceed funding "BENEFITS will have to be cut".
Results: More patients, fewrer doctors, longer lines, less care, more fraud.
Welcome to government assisted suicide of the world's best healthcare system.
Harold Olsen
9 months ago
Obama's a man of his word? Hah! If Obama said something I knew to be absolutely true, I still wouldn't believe him. If a person's nose grew every time he told a lie, Obama's nose would probably circle the globe several times over.
DLL
9 months ago
If memory serves me right it seems to me that Insurance programs were better and covered all medical costs. Medicare came along and after that everything began to implode slowly,so now medical costs have gone through the roof. No insurance plan is adequate to help defray costs because all medical expenses are completely unpredictable.Legal medicine is a fact of life and a cause for much unnecessary expense to any given patient. No insurance company pays the hospital bills as they are submitted. They pay what they deem acceptable. The hospital or the
Patient eats the rest of the bill. Mostly if it can be done,the consumer is the recipient of what won't be covered. In the case of Medicare patients who have these policies they are told straight out before treatment what costs simply will not be covered. Medicare is a supplemental policy and it is used in conjunction with another preferred policy that the patient might carry. A hospitalization for any elective surgery is unperdictable as costs are not regulated. This is why insurance/hospital relationships are a form of bartering for money at best. Add government to the processe and their regulations and more,not less cost,Is passed to the consumer who is the patient. That is why people go broke even with coverage. The nursing home experience is the worst,as that experience is enough to make most people bankrupt and homeless and that includes the guy designated to pay all the bills. Who is that in the end? Not Medicare or the insurance companies or any government,it is us as the consumer,the patient or their caretaker,they pay! The whole healthcare system is.a dishonest billing racket.
Bill
9 months ago
Is this now a Rebulician political website?

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