Did I read President Obama's offer right?

[diabeticman]

He is putting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security on the table Or did I NOT read what I saw on the Last Word Correctly?

[geckosfeet]

1. Check it out - I like it.

Although I would add lowering the retirement age to 55 and extending medicare to everyone within US borders.

READ: The White House's fiscal cliff proposal

Phase One

• Immediate increase in both top marginal rates, as well as capital gains and dividends: +$960 Billion


• Additional taxes: +$600 Billion


• 2009-level estate tax


• AMT and business tax extenders: -$236 Billion


• Payroll tax extension or alternative policy: -$110B


• Bonus depreciation extension

Spending/Extras

• $50 billion stimulus package in FY13


• Mass refi mortgage proposal


• Deferral of sequester


• Savings from non-entitlement mandatory programs


• Extension of unemployment insurance: $30 billion


• Medicare SGR Patch: $25 Billion


• Increase in the debt limit to avoid requiring Congress to vote to increase

Stage Two

• Tax reform consistent with $1.6 trillion tax increase


• Entitlement policies from President’s FY13 budget that could total $400 billion in savings

Comment from White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage:

"Right now, the only thing preventing us from reaching a deal that averts the fiscal cliff and avoids a tax hike on 98 percent of Americans is the refusal of Congressional Republicans to ask the very wealthiest individuals to pay higher tax rates. The President has already signed into law over $1 trillion in spending cuts and we remain willing to do tough things to compromise, and it's time for Republicans in Washington to join the chorus of other voices—from the business community to middle class Americans across the country—who support a balanced approach that asks more from the wealthiest Americans."

READ: The White House's fiscal cliff proposal

[diabeticman]

2. Call me dumb BUT

Entitlement policies from President’s FY13 budget that could total $400 billion in savings

This doesn't fully make me comfortable. Entitlements is the word used by Repugs for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. IS he cutting money from them?

[geckosfeet]

3. Well, could be corporate welfare. But you are right - 'entitlement' more commonly refers to

social security and medicare.

But what I think the $400b is, is projected savings from deploying the affordable health care act.

[former-republican]

4. deploying the affordable health care act?

How does that save 400B from the federal budget?

[JaneyVee]

6. Because the more people that have health insurance the less the Govt has to pay.

[former-republican]

10. Are you referring to Medicaid ?

Those people will still be on Medicaid so it can't be saved from there.


Also the federal government doesn't pay for ER bills that people refuse to pay or can't pay.

If you can clarify it better I would appreciate it.

[geckosfeet]

19. Fire up your google machine and do some websearch. It's pretty simple.

There are lots of conflicting estimates though. My best guess is that that $400b is from medicare/medicaid due to the ACA as I have heard nothing that indicates outright cuts to any programs.

CNN's O'Brien Corrects Right-Wing Media Medicare Falsehood

Fox's Chris Wallace Advances GOP's False Medicare Talking Point

After debate, Medicare advisory board in the news (again)
The Affordable Care Act is expected to achieve $400 billion in Medicare savings by 2019. Even with those cost savings, Medicare is expected to increase from 3.6 percent of GDP in 2010 to 5.9 percent by 2035. (7) While there may be problems with the current version of the IPAB, they can be corrected. If our goal is to reduce Medicare costs without massive programmatic changes, a repeal would be both unwise and disingenuous.

[former-republican]

22. it's important to note it's a theory as is noted in the article ,the money was taking out of

Medicare.

[diabeticman]

5. I hope you are right BUT I hear people talking about raising the retirement age to 69 and

Bernie Sanders is voicing concern about these programs so I am nervous.

[geckosfeet]

17. Raising the retirement age is WRONG. Start the letter writing machines folks.

This has to be stopped. If anything the retirement age needs to be lowered.

[Wounded Bear]

7. IIRC, the $400B i cuts from "entitlements" is the old canard.....

elimination of waste, fraud and abuse. Often that is politico-speak for "we won't really do anything, but it'll sound nice."

Having said that, the $500B in Medicare savings in the ACA is a lot of that, especially administrative savings. Can this be expanded to other programs, MedicAid and SS, et al? Probably could, if we actually did something along those lines. The Repub answer to program fraud is usually "eliminate the program." The real aswer is probably enforcement, but monitoring and enforcement are generally the first things cut when the Repubs pull out their meat cleavers.

When Repubs take the chainsaw to program budgets, actual benefits are mandated by law, so they don't usually go down directly. The reductions generally hits the admin side, so it becomes harder to get the benefits and reinforces the "government can't do anything" meme they so love to spew. And, of course, any fraud department they might have is hit hardest of all, when it probably be expanded.

[former-republican]

11. especially administrative savings?

How is the savings there made?

[Wounded Bear]

24. The way they put it, IIRC....

is that savings would come from payouts to providers and insurers in ways that would not affect benefits to recipients.

IDK the details, but it does fit the WFA meme.

Most of the savings came out of the MediCare Advantage program, which is pretty much a scam to pump money into the big Med firms, and doesn't really increase any benefits to people in the program.

[pnwmom]

8. Medicare Advantage, which was a private version of Medicare that cost MORE,

has been axed.

We won't miss it.

[diabeticman]

9. that is good. How about letting Medicare nogisate prices with drug companies. You know get rid of

BS that Tommy Thompson did.

Any my mother in law and grandmother won't see a cut to their money in those programs--medicare and social security?

[former-republican]

12. Ha Ha

yea right with both parities in the back pockets of pharmaceutical companies.

Don't hold your breath

[pnwmom]

14. They should let everyone in Medicare AND Obamacare buy drugs at the same price

that they're available in Canada.

[former-republican]

16. Your answer is here

With or without Obamacare, the American health system will continue to unravel -- quickly if Romney is elected, slowly if Obama is re-elected," writes Dr. Marcia Angell of Harvard Medical School. And this is because the law doesn't actually reverse the unsustainable trend line of skyrocketing health-care costs.

As one health-care lobbyist told Angell, if the act cuts into the industry's profits, they'll just raise premiums -- something the new law doesn't prevent. When this happens, more and more people will opt out of the system, choosing to pay the meager penalty -- sorry Chief Justice Roberts, I mean tax. This will lead to even higher premiums and the vicious cycle will continue, albeit a tad more slowly than before.

This is because, writes Angell, "Obama gutted the law before it even passed." Aside from keeping most of the current system in place and simply extending it, there were the deals to not allow drug re-importation and the deals that prevent the government from negotiating for lower drug prices. In 2008, then-candidate Obama took on the latter provision being left out of the Medicare Part D bill: "That's an example of the same old game playing in Washington," he said. "You know, I don't want to learn how to play the game better. I want to put an end to the game playing." He clearly didn't


http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-07-09/news/fl-ahcol-obamacare-ruling-huffington-0710-20120709_1_obamacare-ruling-affordable-care-act-step-toward-health-care-reform

[former-republican]

13. Did it cost more for the federal government or the recipient?

[pnwmom]

15. I think the government, but I'm not sure. The idea was that private competition

was supposed to reduce costs, but it didn't work that way. The same services were provided by regular Medicare for significantly less.

[RomneyLies]

18. 400 billion in savings from Medicare can come from a single reform

Allow Medicare part D to negotiate with the pharmaceuticals and there's your savings.

[former-republican]

20. but they agreed not to do that

[RomneyLies]

23. When they passed MEdicare Part D, they did.

It now needs reformed and that will be the reform proposed to save $400 billion.

Remember, everything is on the table. Big Pharma may not like it, but it is a spending cut to allow the government to negotiate prices.

[Enrique]

21. no

I didn't seen the Last Word, but I doubt he characterized Obama's offer as "putting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security on the table"