My Medicare LTTE

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

OK, so I'm getting a little worried that Mittens is going to be able to use Medicare against Obama the same way that Bush/Voldemort used John Kerry's military records against him.

I wrote this LTTE and sent it to 8-9 newspapers in Wisconsin:

We need to be clear about what’s happening to Medicare under the Obama Administration, because a lot of misinformation is flowing out there. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) cuts payments to hospitals that don’t meet certain standards of care. Going forward, if a patient is discharged but then readmitted for the same medical issue two weeks later, hospitals are going to pick up part of the tab. We’re talking Medicare payments based on “quality” of care and not just “quantity” of services provided. The ACA also cuts payments to Medicare Advantage Plans – those are private Medicare plans that were supposed to compete with Medicare but actually cost up to 20% more. These are cost savings, efficiencies to the system that will pay dividends down the road. There are no cuts to programs and no increased costs to beneficiaries. So where does the $700 million go? It goes to expand Medicare and Medicaid to provide coverage for people who don’t have insurance. These savings are also going to close the Medicare Part D “doughnut hole” and are already saving seniors thousands of dollars on their prescription costs. Nobody is “stealing” anything from Medicare, and voters need to know that.

Since I'm in Brookfield, I don't know how many of them will be interested in publishing a letter from an out-of-towner.

The point of this post is to please (please) if you life in Green Bay or Eau Claire or just about any market outside of Milwaukee, PLEASE write a letter explaining what the situation with the alleged "cuts" to Medicare. I think it's important that we get on top of this issue.

Here's a link to several of the largest Wisconsin newspapers.

http://www.allyoucanread.com/wisconsin-newspapers/