4 Secrets Republicans Are Keeping About Medicare to Convince Us That $600 Billion in Cuts Are Necess

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/4-secrets-republicans-are-keeping-about-medicare-convince-us-600-billion-cuts-are-necessary

***SNIP

1. Runaway corporate profits are squeezing medicare.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker echoed the party line today when he said that cutting "entitlements" was needed in order to " save the nation ." But benefit cuts aren't where the money is: profits are. We did some rough calculations to show you just how much profit's involved:

Roughly $200 billion in Medicare spending will go to drug company profits in the next 10 years. (We got that figure by averaging the profit margins for large pharmaceutical corporations by projected Medicare drug expenditures.) And yet the Republicans have blocked legislation that would allow the government to use its purchasing power to negotiate for a better deal. So the drug companies can charge us whatever they want - and we pay it.

***SNIP

2. We receive far too much unnecessary care, and are often fraudulently billed for the care that is given.

Then there's what may be the most expensive effect that greed has on Medicare: overtreatment. A series of exposés (some of which we discussed in " Sick Money ," a review of Bain Capital's health investments) have revealed gross patterns of fraudulent Medicare overcharging.

***SNIP

3. Seniors are already being hit hard by medical costs.

People who aren't covered by Medicare and don't know much about it often assume it covers all, or most, medical expenses. But the average person on Medicare pays roughly $4,600 per year in out-of-pocket medical costs, and that figure can be much higher for those who are severely or chronically ill or who have suffered a serious injury.

[eridani]

1. The $600 Billion Funeral

That leads us to our “modest proposal.” Any way you look at it, we’re going to be seeing an increase in the number of funerals if Medicare benefits are cut. Research has shown that the survival for seniors in this country increased by 13 percent when Medicare was introduced in the 1960s.

It’s reasonable to assume that those survival rates will begin to fall again—and death rates will rise—if we impose mindless benefit cuts, instead of taking an intelligent cost management approach that focuses on expense drivers such as overtreatment, overbilling, and excessive profiteering.

The Republicans want drastic cost reductions without disturbing corporate profits. Using their logic, they shouldn’t take away our first two years of Medicare coverage. They should take away the last two years. That would cut Medicare expenditures by more than a third.

And what do they care about one more funeral here or there – as long as it’s not theirs?