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Jamie Dupree

Health Care and Seniors

By
Jamie Dupree
@ July 29, 2009 12:00 AM
Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBacks (0)

About the time of President Obama's town hall meeting on Tuesday sponsored by the AARP, I got a couple of emails about whether the Democratic plan is "better" for seniors or not.

While I will leave that judgment to the politicians, it's clear that both parties are already involved in a mighty struggle for the support of seniors, especially when it comes to changes in Medicare.

Mr. Obama argued to seniors in person yesterday that his plan will help them the most.

"With the AARP standing on the side of the American people, I'm confident that we can do the right thing once again, and pass health insurance reform and ensure that Medicare stays strong for generations to come," he said.

Meanwhile, Republicans were furiously batting away such talk, charging that the Democrats' plan will actually cost seniors more and limit their treatment options.

"The president told us there are no proposed cuts to Medicare benefits for seniors," said Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL). "Unfortunately, he's just flat wrong."

The questions at the AARP event and those coming to me via email show that many seniors are worried about what the changes will bring.

"I haven't been able to find SPECIFICS on what areas of health care for seniors will be downgraded, diminished or eliminated altogther," wrote Leonard Ross in an email to me. "Please advise."

If only it was that easy. This is a classic issue where the two parties look at the same evidence and come to completely different conclusions.

"I've been told it's a "scare tactic" to say seniors would pay more under Obamacare; the scary fact is it's true," said Rep. Brown-Waite.

"Nobody is talking about cutting Medicare benefits," the President said, as he got softball questions to start his AARP town hall.

But Republicans point out that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says that Democrats are going to cut $177 billion from the Medicare Advantage program, which is targeted for poor seniors.

The legislative language on Medicare Advantage changes begin on page 331.

The bill does add for Medicare coverage a series of preventive screening programs, which you can find on page 492 of the Democrats' bill.

Critics say the way the bill is structured, it will mean Medicare payment cuts to nursing homes and hospitals, which will translate into less care, a charge that Democrats reject.

One thing is increasingly clear, this debate will go well into the Fall, giving both sides lots of time to fine tune their arguments.


Remember, you can download the bill yourself at http://bit.ly/nSL2A



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What others are saying

  • Ovarian Pain
    I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

    Susan

    http://ovarianpain.net
  • health care
    no federal health care and no cap and trade, quit spending money and give the government back to the tax payers and legal citizens
  • be afraid be very afraid and paranoid the sky is falling
    Only private insurance companies should continue to make these decisions for young and old as they do now.
  • boomers
    I hate to sound callous but what are the younger generations supposed to do with all these aging boomers? There isn't enough acreage to build enough nursing homes to house all these old boomers. And who will pay for them? I don't feel obligated to pay for them to be given top notch medical care in a nursing home for the next 20 years. And don't respond with this "respect for life" garbage, the boomers are the ones who were so in favor of abortion. Now it's their turn.
  • RE: Page 432
    @2Concerned:

    The Social Security Act has provisions for physicians to report data on quality measures related to some services.

    This amendment to the Act explicitly states that "end of life care" is one of those services that is included in the report.

    It says nothing about requirements for physicians to provide or not provide care. This is a reporting tool only.

    Whether you agree or disagree that the gov't should be allowed to aggregate this physician data is another matter.
  • Page 432
    Jamie,

    I read the following on page 432:

    INITIATIVE FOR END OF LIFE CARE.—
    VerDate Nov 24 2008 12:51 Jul 14, 2009 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00431 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 C:\TEMP\AAHCA0~1.XML HOLCPC
    July 14, 2009 (12:51 p.m.)
    F:\P11\NHI\TRICOMM\AAHCA09_001.XML
    f:\VHLC\071409\071409.140.xml (444390|2)
    432
    1 (1) PHYSICIAN’S QUALITY REPORTING INITIA2
    TIVE.—Section 1848(k)(2) of the Social Security Act
    3 (42 U.S.C. 1395w–4(k)(2)) is amended by adding at
    4 the end the following new paragraphs:
    5 ‘‘(3) PHYSICIAN’S QUALITY REPORTING INITIA6
    TIVE.—
    7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of re8
    porting data on quality measures for covered
    9 professional services furnished during 2011 and
    10 any subsequent year, to the extent that meas11
    ures are available, the Secretary shall include
    12 quality measures on end of life care and ad13
    vanced care planning that have been adopted or
    14 endorsed by a consensus-based organization, if
    15 appropriate. Such measures shall measure both
    16 the creation of and adherence to orders for life17
    sustaining treatment.

    Does this mean that the government is going to determine your care at end of life if you are a Social Security recipient?
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