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What did I miss?

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President Obama today, speaking to a crowd of college students (is there some reason why he won’t speak to the adult taxpayers of this country), blasted the Republican budget proposed by Paul Ryan (R. Wi.).  According to the President, it will throw seniors under the bus, they will have to eat dog food, starve, and die, all thanks to the Republicans.

There are a few facts, however, that he neglected to mention and, that  you need to know.

First, Paul Ryan’s proposed budget does not affect anyone who is 55 years or older.

And second, Paul Ryan’s proposed budget calls for an increase  (from today’s levels) in Medicare expenditures by almost $500 billion by 2021.  Obamacare has enacted a $500 billion decrease (from 2010 levels) in Medicare expenditures by 2021.  And, Obamacare is already in place.  

Perhaps, it is Rep. Ryan, not the President who is trying to make sure that seniors don’t eat dog food, starve, etc.

Heck, even the AARP didn’t object when Obamacare cut $500 billion from Medicare.  Now, they are hopping mad about Ryan’s proposal.

Hypocrisy at its best.

Maybe that’s why the President won’t speak to adults.

AARP Part 5: The big payoff from Obamacare UPDATE: Video

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Well, this won’t surprise any of you who read this blog on a regular basis. But it is stunning, isn’t it ,when you see the ultimate figures? The Sound Off Sister already talked about this here, and now we know that the payoff to AARP from Obama care is even greater than we had thought before. No wonder they supported.  Read more

Alan Simpson to AARP and NCPSSM: You’re phonies! Social Security sinking fast(er)!

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Social Security is in real trouble and Alan Simpson is spitting mad at the two groups he thinks are standing in the way of reform. Turn em off, says Simpson, they’re all phonies …. and just for good measure, the AARP is just a bunch of marketers. “They sell stuff”. Read more

AARP’s payback for supporting Obamacare

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It was more than a bit curious when AARP supported Obamacare. After all, AARP purports to represent seniors, and Obamacare claims that it will cut $500 billion from senior’s Medicare. 

Well, now we know why.

As pointed out an earlier post, the administration has granted 222 “waivers” from the provisions of Obamacare. One of the largest recipients of the government’s largess is AARP.

AARP spent over $240 million on ads and lobbying to rally their members around Obamacare.  In return, here is what AARP got for the “Medigap” insurance it offers to seniors.

The AARP is also exempt from the new law’s $500,000 cap on executive compensation for insurance executives. (The nonprofit’s last CEO received over $1.5 million in compensation in his last full year, 2009.) It won’t pay any of the estimated $14 billion in new taxes on insurance companies, though according to its 2008 consolidated financial statement, it gets more money from its insurance offerings than it does from dues, grants and private contributions combined. Nor will it have to spend at least 85% of its Medigap premium dollars on medical claims, as Medicare Advantage plans must do; the AARP will be held to a far less restrictive 65%.

So, best I can tell, AARP will stuff its pockets with money from selling its Medigap policies to seniors.  All non AARP Medigap policies will have to charge more in premiums as all of Obamacare’s onerous provisions will apply to solely to the non AARP policies. 

And, there you go.  AARP’s $240 million in expenditures to support Obamacare will be recouped in a heart beat.

This conduct on the part of both AARP and the administration is more than despicable.

AARP: Health care legislation endorsement will lead to higher costs for employees

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No kidding? Although higher health care insurance premiums are mostly the result of higher costs at the provider level, AARP – who endorsed the Democrat’s health care legislation – admits part of the new premium increases are the direct result of Obamacare. On top of that, they are increasing deductibles and co-pays specifically to avoid a possible hit by the 40 percent “Cadillac” health care tax taking effect in 2018.

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Where were the rest of the doctors?

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The “meeting” on the White House lawn this Monday with President Obama and 150 doctors, (who, at the time, looked much like potted plants, if I do say so myself), would lead one to believe that doctors support Obamacare. Perhaps those 150 doctors do, but many of the rest were elsewhere.

They were lobbying against a key provision of the Baucus Unaffordable Health Care Bill that will “save money”, but cost many seniors needed health care in the process.  Yes, AARP should have been lobbying against this provision, but, apparently, they don’t care.

To reduce the costs of Medicare, Senator Baucus (D. Mt.) has come up with this nifty idea.

Medicare would rank doctors against their peers based on how much they cost the program—and then automatically cut all payments by 5% to [any doctor] who falls into the 90th percentile or above.

Here is how this insanity would work.

Let’s say Doctor “A” has many patients who are very sick, and Doctor” B”, and eight of his colleagues have many patients who are healthy.  In order for Doctor “A” to treat his sick patients, he or she will have to order a great deal of medical care to treat them, thus costing Medicare money.  Dr. “B”, and his eight colleagues, on the other hand will not cost Medicare very much money because their patients just happen to be healthy.

At the end of the year, Dr. “A” will see his Medicare payments reduced by 5%, but Dr. “B” and his eight collegues will see no reduction in their Medicare payments.

What happens the following year?

Dr. “A” decides to “downsize” his practice giving his sickest patients a “pink slip”.  I wonder where those patients will go?  I guess Sen. Baucus doesn’t care.

Dr. “B” and his eight colleagues, after seeing what happened to Dr. “A”, begin to cut back on the treatment they give to their patients, lest they become the doctor whose reimbursements are cut for that year.  And, this cycle continues.  As the Wall Street Journal points out, this is like a game of musical chairs.  There will always only be nine chairs and, there will always be ten doctors.  Someone always must lose.

Here, the loser is any senior on Medicare.

Ironic, isn’t it, that the Democrats are so concerned about the bogus “45,000 deaths per year ” because of the lack of insurance, and, they don’t give a wit about the real folks who have insurance…with Medicare?

Babies, seniors, sandle wearing veterans, all…. scarrrrrrry – Update: Propaganda Minister Speaks

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This could very well be the funniest post on you mobsters out there that I have seen. I have included just one of the pictures from a Town Hall in St Louis … posted by St Louis talk show host Dana Loesch. Click to see full size version. Read more

More mobsters masquerading as … seniors this time

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Hey, don’t most don’s have grey hair. Well except the young ones.The best part is how quiet and civil they are and that young whipper snapper from the AARP was just scared to death. Scary!

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoMNDdQ1_h0&feature=player_embedded

Moe Lane has the full story over at Red State. Hat tip to Instapundit.

Is AARP selling its members down the river?

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For months, President Obama has been promoting his health care plan, and proposing to pay for it by, among other things, squeezing billions of dollars out of Medicare.  And AARP, looking more and more like an arm of the DNC than an advocate for its members, has been backing the president’s plan.

So this week, the president held yet another in a seemingly endless series of town hall meetings to promote his plan, but, this time the meeting was with AARP.  I suppose it should have come as no surprise to the president that seniors, given all they have heard, would be concerned about things like rationing, reduced benefits, and “end of life” counseling.  The surprise though to many AARP members is that AARP doesn’t seem to share those concerns.

I’ve linked to an article, not necessarily because it is “the truth, the whole truth, and, nothing but the truth”, but because of the comments section below the article.  It is not only me that is questioning AARP’s motives, but AARP members as well.

But, back to the AARP town hall meeting, and the president’s attempt to allay seniors’  fears.

Mr. Obama said the Medicare cuts will be targeted at wasteful spending, such as overpayments to insurance companies that participate in private Medicare plans, as well as unnecessary hospital readmissions.

Were I on Medicare, and, at that town hall meeting, I wouldn’t find that statement particularly comforting.  I would have raised my hand to ask, “Why can’t you do that now, Mr. President?  Does it take an act of Congress for our government to stop wasteful spending?”  In response, the President would probably have spoken about red pills and blue pills, and unnecessary removal of tonsils, but I’m  fairly confident that I wouldn’t have gotten an answer.

The answer, to me,  is simple, Mr. President.  You can’t cut $250 to $500 billion in Medicare spending over 10 years when you are simultaneously adding millions of “baby boomers” to the Medicare rolls, without reducing payments to health care providers.  Reduced payments means fewer and fewer health care providers will accept Medicare.  And, fewer and fewer health care providers means longer and longer wait times to see a doctor.

Mr. President, is it too much to ask that you be honest with the American public?  And, AARP, is it too much to ask that you be honest with your members?