The Romney-Ryan $700B Disagreement

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/health/health_stew/2012/08/the_romney-ryan_700b_disagreem.html

Posted by John McDonough August 12, 2012 05:49 PM

Even in Washington, $700 billion is a lot of dough, so it's worth focusing on the fact that Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his chosen running mate, Cong. Paul Ryan (R-WI) disagree about $700 billion in Medicare reductions included in the Affordable Care Act (aka: ACA, ObamaCare).

This difference is important and compelling from both policy and political vantage points. So let's explore.

To begin, it is undeniable that Congressional Democrats and the Obama White House chose to pay for nearly half the cost of the ACA by reducing Medicare's expected rate of growth by about $450 billion between 2010 and 2019. The number, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), is now up to around $700B because three early no-or-little reduction years have been supplanted by three full impact years (2013-2022).

None of these reductions were financed by cuts to Medicare enrollees' eligibility or benefits; benefits were improved in the ACA. Cuts were focused on hospitals, health insurers, home health, and other providers. Except for insurers, all the affected groups publicly supported the reductions to help finance the ACA's expansion in health insurance to about 32 million uninsured Americans.

FULL story at link.

[Tx4obama]

1. Rachel Maddow Kills the Romney/Ryan Medicare Lie Dead In its Tracks

Rachel Maddow Kills the Romney/Ryan Medicare Lie Dead In its Tracks
Transcript and VIDEO here: http://www.politicususa.com/rachel-maddow-kills-romneyryan-medicare-lie-dead-tracks.html