Ann Lorenz relies on Medicare, as do most seniors to meet her health care needs, including Parkinson’s Disease. Ann sees a number of doctors and depends on a variety of prescription drugs and therapies to stay independent. She worries that Obamacare threatens her access to doctors, treatment options and insurance plans – and her neurologist speaks out against Medicare’s future under Obamacare as well.
If at all possible, put aside the political rhetoric of keeping Medicare “as we know it” that we all heard incessantly throughout the 2012 election cycle. Obamacare has already made significant changes to Medicare, namely through provider reimbursement reductions and the creation of an unelected board of bureaucrats, the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).
IPAB was among the least popular ideas among seniors in the last presidential election, and in fact, the margin between Romney and Obama was not even close. Had more seniors come to the polls, then the election might have turned out differently; but Romney decided to not make Obamacare – the winning issue in 2010 – the issue to at as a catalyst to bring Americans to the polls.
In the latest Rasmussen poll, which was just released today, most voters still view Obamacare unfavorably, and most still believe that competition will do more than regulation to bring health care prices down. Republicans share this ideology, but have failed to offer a countering plan, or as was the case with Romney, simply shrunk away from the issue altogether.
The Rasmussen survey found that 41% of Likely U.S. Voters now hold at least a “somewhat favorable” opinion of the health care law, while 54% view it unfavorably. Rasmussen writes:
Passion remains on the side of the opponents, with 15% who view the law Very Favorably compared to 40% with a Very Unfavorable opinion of it.
If Romney has taught us anything, it is that we cannot simply ignore Obamacare. It will, and already is, setup to be the paramount provider of misery in this country to people of many ages – especially our seniors.
Here are three examples from Heritage of Obamacare’s impact:
1) Huge payment reductions that reduce access to care. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Obamacare will reduce Medicare reimbursements by $716 billion over 10 years. These cuts will hit Part A providers such as hospitals, nursing homes, skilled nursing facilities, and hospices, along with Medicare Advantage plans. The trustees predict that if Congress allows these cuts to go into effect, 15 percent of Medicare providers would go in the red by 2019, 25 percent by 2030, and 40 percent by 2050.
This will absolutely impact seniors’ ability to access medical care. As the trustees explain: “Providers could not sustain continuing negative margins and would have to withdraw from serving Medicare beneficiaries or (if total facility margins remained positive) shift substantial portions of Medicare costs to their non-Medicare, non-Medicaid payers.” (Emphasis added.)
2) Medicare “savings” are spent on other parts of Obamacare. Obamacare’s Medicare “savings” and increased Medicare payroll tax are often touted as increasing the solvency of the Part A trust fund, but that simply is not true. The money is counted as paying for new entitlement spending in Obamacare.
As CBO plainly states, “CBO has been asked whether the reductions in projected Part A outlays and increases in projected [hospital insurance] revenues under the legislation can provide additional resources to pay future Medicare benefits while simultaneously providing resources to pay for new programs outside of Medicare. Our answer is basically no.”
3) The ominous and looming power of IPAB. The board will consist of 15 unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, charged with meeting a newly created budget target in Medicare. When Medicare spending surpasses the target, IPAB will have to make recommendations to lower Medicare spending. The trustees project the much-hated IPAB will need to step up and make recommendations for the first time in 2016.
Obama’s Medicare agenda falls far short of what is necessary to put the program on a sustainable path, and his law’s negative impact on seniors is yet another reason the law must be repealed in its entirety before its most egregious provisions (Medicaid expansion and exchange subsidies) begin in 2014.
The Medicare program that provides health insurance to seniors faces a dire financial future, which Obamacare hall all but ensured its demise.
Medicare’s Part A trust fund is projected to be insolvent by 2026 and the total program has a long-term unfunded obligation of more than $35 trillion. This means the government has made $35 trillion worth of benefit promises to current and future seniors without paying for it – more than double the nation’s total current debt.
Medicare trustees have been warning of this financing disaster for many years, an to be fair neither party has addressed their warnings, but President Obama’s massive health care law will break the government’s Medicare promises much sooner.
