Wednesday, August 01, 2012

Great news, seniors! Obamacare Robs Medicare of $716 Billion to Fund Itself!

Say, you didn't really need that heart transplant, did you?

Last week, a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report updated the amount of money Obamacare robs out of Medicare from $500 billion to a whopping $716 billion between 2013 and 2022.

According to the CBO, the payment cuts in Medicare include:

  • A $260 billion payment cut for hospital services.
  • A $39 billion payment cut for skilled nursing services.
  • A $17 billion payment cut for hospice services.
  • A $66 billion payment cut for home health services.
  • A $33 billion payment cut for all other services.
  • A $156 billion cut in payment rates in Medicare Advantage (MA); $156 billion is before considering interactions with other provisions. The House Ways and Means Committee was able to include interactions with other provisions, estimating the cuts to MA to be even higher, coming in at $308 billion.
  • $56 billion in cuts for disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments.* DSH payments go to hospitals that serve a large number of low-income patients.
  • $114 billion in other provisions pertaining to Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP* (does not include coverage-related provisions).

...In total, Obamacare raids Medicare by $716 billion from 2013 to 2022. Despite Medicare facing a 75-year unfunded obligation of $37 trillion, Obamacare uses the savings from the cuts to pay for other provisions in Obamacare, not to help shore up Medicare’s finances.

Best of all, the Medicare trustees (PDF) predict that 15 percent of all major medical facilities will be operating at a loss in a mere seven (7) years. Which means, of course, that they will close their doors or dramatically reduce access to services.

Oh. And in less than 20 years, that same shortfall will apply to 25 percent of all major medical facilities.

You know how in England, 130,000 seniors are intentionally and systematically starved to death in their ultra-humane, socialized health care system?

Well, not to worry. I'm sure that could never happen here.

Because we have masterminds like Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. And I'm sure they covered all of the bases in their 2,800-page "Affordable Care Act" bill, despite the fact that not one single person bothered to read it.



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