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Obamacare: Day Three of Senate Finance Committee Hearings

Obamacare: Day Three of Senate Finance Committee Hearings

On Thursday, September 24th, the Senate Finance Committee continued to vote on amendments to the “Chairman’s Mark” of the America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009. As the committee continues to consider more than 500 amendments, it is becoming clear that Senators are directly undercutting the high profile promises that President Obama made to the American people in his widely broadcasted address to Congress on September 9, 2009. Consider several health policy decisions made by members of the Senate Finance Committee:

Cutting Medicare Advantage (Crapo-Kyl-Roberts Amendment D1)

The White House and Congressional leaders routinely insist that they are not going to cut Medicare benefits, only unnecessary spending or spending properly considered to be waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicare program. Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), and Pat Roberts (R-KS) proposed an amendment to change the Chairman’s mark and remove provisions in Title III, Subtitle D which would result in cuts to Medical Advantage, a program which allows Medicare users to obtain coverage through private insurers. Cuts in payments to Medicare Advantage plans would result in decreased choice and competition for seniors. This amendment failed on a procedural vote (9-9). (more…)

Tags: Barack Obama, Baucus bill, big government, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Part D, Medicare trigger, middle class, obama deficit, Obama Health, Obama Health Care Plan, Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees

The House Health Bill’s Higher Costs For Seniors

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a preliminary analysis of the proposed changes to Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit for seniors, under the Ways and Means version of H.R. 3200, the House Democrats’ health care bill. The bill would make a number of changes to the Medicare program and its drug benefit, including phasing out the infamous doughnut hole or gap in drug coverage that some seniors have run up against. In a recent letter, the CBO estimated:

“That enacting the proposed changes would lead to an average increase in premiums for Part D beneficiaries, above those under current law, of about 5 percent in 2011. That effect would rise over time and reach about 20 percent in 2019. Beyond the 10-year budget window, the premiums would increase slightly more until the doughnut hole was eliminated in 2022; beyond that point, enrollees’ premiums would grow along with the cost for covered drugs.”

CBO director Douglas Elmendorf goes on to write, “the proposed changes would also reduce beneficiaries’ average cost sharing and their average total drug spending.” But while, on average, seniors might save on their total drug costs, Elmodorf explains, “The net effect on drug spending would differ among beneficiaries depending on the amount of their purchases in a year.” (more…)

Tags: CBO, government-run health care, House Ways and Means, HR3200, Medicare Part D, Obama Health Care Plan