In Case You Missed It: The following op-ed by Senator John McCain appeared in today’s USA TODAY:Democrats’ proposed cuts will impact seniors’ access to quality care.
By John McCain
Thursday, December 03, 2009
The Democrats have proposed slashing Medicare by nearly $500 billion, one-half a trillion dollars, to create a new federal government-run health care entitlement and are trying to package it as "health care reform."
Among other cuts, the proposed reductions in Medicare include $120 billion to the Medicare Advantage program; $150 billion to providers, including hospitals, hospices and nursing homes; and $23 billion in unspecified decreases to be determined by an "Independent Medicare Advisory board."
The bulk of these cuts come directly from Medicare Advantage, which, unlike traditional Medicare, offers coordinated benefits that can improve the quality of care as well as cover items such as hearing aids, dental benefits and flu shots. Medicare Advantage provides the only choice in the Medicare program for seniors who want additional benefits or better options. Almost 90% of seniors need and have some form of supplemental coverage on top of Medicare. Further, many low-income Americans rely on Medicare Advantage to supplement coverage.
The Congressional Budget Office assumes that the Democrats' bill would cut Medicare Advantage benefits by more than half — from an average of $98 to $41 a month. During the Finance Committee markup, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf stated that "approximately half" of Medicare Advantage benefits would be cut for 11 million seniors enrolled in Medicare Advantage under the provisions in the Democrats' bill. The fact is, cuts to Medicare Advantage are cuts to Medicare benefits.
I have consistently been a strong advocate of making Medicare a more efficient and stronger program through improving incentives for better coordinated care, reducing Medicare fraud and abuse, and eliminating preventable errors. These are common sense.
Unlike slashing the Medicare program by half a trillion dollars in order to finance more Washington spending and mandates, I have advocated putting any savings created by improvements to
Medicare back into the program to improve it for our seniors and ensure its viability.
Simply put, the Democrats' proposed cuts to Medicare would impact seniors' access to quality care. This is a price that Americans should not be asked to pay.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is author of an amendment to eliminate Medicare cuts from the Senate health care bill. If you have any questions please contact 602-604-2010 or visit http://click.johnmccain.com/t/442671/77459746/5780/0/
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