Like the loathsome opportunist that he is, Mitt Romney has been running around saying that, if he is elected, he will restore the $716 billion he claims Obama "stole" from Medicare to give to Obamacare.
But, counter-intuitive though it may seem, putting back that money would actually reduce benefits for current seniors.
Let me explain:
That money is actually savings culled in part from ending tax-payer subsidies to private insurance companies in the Advantage program, a program that routinely over-charges the government for services that regular Medicare provides for far less. And not a single benefit to a single senior is lost in the process.
Obama then turns around and gives this money back to seniors in the form of free preventative care and a closing of the doughnut hole which saves seniors hundreds of dollars a year in prescription drug costs.
Thus, it's Romney who would be the one stealing from seniors if he puts that money back, not Obama. Seniors, under Romney, would lose that free preventative care and would go back to paying exorbitant prices for their drugs.
But the private companies would sure be happy.
I thought Republicans were supposed to be for more efficient government, not less.
Obama is doing what everyone says he should be doing, that is making Medicare into a leaner, more efficient system without reducing benefits to those who depend upon it. And what is his reward for that? To have Republicans, who proclaim to hate socialized medicine and everything about it, pretending suddenly that they are the serious defenders of Medicare. It's sickening, and they need to be called out on it.