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Of Two Minds on the Medicare Debate

In his health care speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this month, President Obama said that his proposed cuts to Medicare "will ensure that you – America's seniors – get the benefits you've been promised."

But Douglas Elmendorf, director of the Congressional Budget Office, disagrees. He testified yesterday that the proposed changes would "would reduce the extra benefits that would be made available to beneficiaries through Medicare Advantage plans." That is, the privately-administered plans that will see a funding cut to help pay for health care legislation.

I've been of two minds about the recent Medicare debate. On the one hand, I worry about the long-term impact of the Republican decision to make protecting Medicare from any cuts a focal point of their opposition to health care legislation. Not only does it distract from other arguments that attack the very idea of government-run health care, but it helps perpetuate the third rail status of a program that, if its growth is left unchecked, will bankrupt the country. If Democrats are unable to touch Medicare, then there's absolutely no hope that somewhere down the line a conservative administration would be able to do so.

At the same time, I do think it's important to point out that Obama is lying through his teeth when he says that cutting Medicare by $500 billion to as much as $622 billion will have absolutely no effect on anybody's benefits. Additionally, it would be one thing if Obama were proposing these cuts as part of a larger entitlement reform, but instead he's proposing them in the name of creating a new entitlement.

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Pingback| 9.24.09 @ 10:17AM

Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Of Two Minds on the Med links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:

…Klein amspec American Spectator 111 Show more Shortened Links Linking to the spectator.org page http://bit.ly/ymEUB info http://bit.ly/XqkPJ info   2 tweets Tweet The American Spectator : AmSpecBlog : Of Two Minds on the Medicare Debate spectator.org/blog/2009/09/24/of-two-minds-on-the-medicare-d – view page – cached In his health care speech to a joint session of Congress earlier this month,…

birmingham| 9.24.09 @ 11:00AM

I have to agree with you on the dicotomy presented here by Repubs promising the seniors they will never have to give up any benefits. How to ever reform when the time comes to rein in Medicare? Problem...

jr| 9.24.09 @ 5:37PM

I would like to see Medicare taken apart piece by piece and examined by good people - sorry no lawyers or porkiticians - all aspects. I have received Medicare benefits as I am one of those that might fit the death panel group. I know that I have gotten treatments that cover the rear of doctors but that is the name of the game. If a group made up of people from Johns Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, etc. were to draw up a minimum scale of treatments for disease A, B, C, etc., ard publish that as recommendations for medicine to follow, I would be satisfied. Anything beyond the minimum would place the professional at risk for non-reimbusement. That would also allow me to police the doctor to make sure that he didn't over- treat me. Currently, most people do not know what should be expected for treatment, nor is there a good place to find such guidelines. Currently, the politicians are two poles apart. The Dimocrats want to continue as is but raise taxes and the Republicans, when in power did little.

c. j. acworth| 9.24.09 @ 6:10PM

The 5-600 billion that Obama wants to cut is money that he says is "misspent", or is "waste,fraud, and abuse. " If so, let him push for a stand-alone bill to cut it. If we then see no adverse effect on benefits, he will be proclaimed a genius for having done what no-one else has ever done, and have enough credibility to get my support for the rest of his plan. Otherwise, no sale.

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