I just received a very interesting letter from the Center for Medicare Advocacy. It seems they’re none too happy about the Romney/Ryan plan for Medicare and want people to know about what the ACA is doing to help them.
Here are the bullet points so you can use them in your conversations. I’ll also include the links. It’s short and easy to remember.
Some policymakers, candidates, and members of the media have been touting the claim that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) cuts $700 billion from Medicare. You may have even started receiving robo-calls that repeat this point. These claims are simply untrue.
What the ACA Really Does for Medicare:
The Affordable Care Act achieves savings in the Medicare program through:
- a series of payment reforms
- service delivery innovations
- increased efforts to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse.
The actual projected reduction in Medicare spending is largely a result of reducing overpayments to private Medicare plans that have been paid more than traditional Medicare but do not perform any better. In fact, according the GAO, saving on wasteful overpayments now means there will more future funds for legitimate coverage.
People on Medicare are already seeing real savings – an average of over
$800 per person on their drug costs this year alone.
The bottom line:
ACA preserves every cent of Medicare's guaranteed benefits AND makes improvements to the program.
The letter continues with the already established fact that the Ryan proposal includes the same $700 billion reduction in Medicare spending. Here is a link that you can use for the actual Ryan plan...in his own words.
In summary, his plan:
- ends Medicare's guaranteed benefit design
- turns the community program into a system of vouchers
- leaving millions of beneficiaries in the hands of private insurance companies
- with no guarantee of the coverage they need.
The Ryan plan does NOT save money for people with Medicare, it doesn't save the Medicare program, and it does not help solve the nation's deficit. For a complete side-by-side comparison of Medicare under the ACA vs. the Ryan budget, see this link.