WASHINGTON - Medicare is looking like a big fat piggy bank for health care overhaul.
President Barack Obama and the Democrats want to pay for much of their plan to cover the uninsured by cutting hundreds of billions from the Medicare budget over the next 10 years.
From its inception, the health plan for seniors has been kept afloat by taxes out of workers’ paychecks. Now, Medicare savings would count toward helping uninsured working-age children and grandchildren afford their own coverage.
Most seniors are willing to help younger generations. But having reached that point in life when you have to spend more time in the doctor’s office than you’d prefer to, older Americans worry the cuts will mean lower quality care.
The proposed cuts to hospitals, nursing homes and other providers are bigger than any Congress has imposed since the late 1990s. However, in percentage terms, they’re far from the largest ever. And Democrats are also proposing to spend tens of billions to improve Medicare prescription coverage and preventive care.
“Seniors should definitely be paying attention,” said Mark McClellan, who ran Medicare under President George W. Bush. “There’s some redesign, some improvements, but unquestionably there would be some adverse impacts. It’s a mixed bag, but it’s not like the sky is falling.”
Here are some questions and answers on how the health care overhaul would affect Medicare beneficiaries:
Q: Obama says no one is talking about cutting Medicare benefits, is he mistaken?
A: He might want to add a caveat.
Benefits under traditional Medicare won’t be cut. But seniors who’ve signed up for private insurance plans through Medicare Advantage could lose valuable extra benefits, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
For years, the government has been paying the private plans more than it costs traditional Medicare to deliver similar services. The plans used the money to provide extra benefits , mainly lower copayments and deductibles. Seniors on tight …
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