Everything is a scam if Obama is behind it.
From AP, via SFGate:
In a rebuke to the Obama administration, government auditors are calling for the cancellation of an $8 billion Medicare program that congressional Republicans have criticized as a political ploy.
The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says in a report to be released Monday that the $8.3 billion the administration has earmarked for quality bonuses to Medicare Advantage insurance plans would postpone the pain of cuts to the plans under the new health care law. Most of the money would go to plans rated merely average.
The country is deep in debt, yet Team Obama wants to give $8 billion in bonuses to Medicare providers?
The administration is defending the program, saying that without the bonuses many plans wouldn’t have an incentive to improve quality.
But Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, says the GAO report suggests that the administration abused its authority, pumping money to the plans to avoid more criticism over unpopular cuts.
Medicare Advantage is a popular private insurance alternative to the traditional health care program for seniors. More than 3,000 private plans serve nearly 12 million beneficiaries, about one-fourth of Medicare recipients. They offer lower out-of-pocket costs, usually in exchange for some limitations on choice.
President Barack Obama’s health care law trimmed Medicare Advantage to compensate for prior years of overpayments that had allowed the plans to offer attractive benefits — and pocket healthy profits.
Obama and Democrats have been stealing money and using it to screw taxpayers since 2009. Anyone remember the $500 billion stolen from Medicare to pay for ObamaCare? This “bonus program” was more thievery from Team Obama…
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission said it amounts to “a mechanism to increase payments” and its design “sends the wrong message about what is important to the program and how improved quality can best be achieved.”
At a time when government is urging health care providers to improve quality and cut costs, the bonus plan “lessens the incentive to achieve the highest level of performance,” commission chairman Glenn Hackbarth wrote to HHS officials.
The bonus program is the costliest demonstration program in Medicare history. The money for it will come from the Medicare trust fund. On Monday, the Medicare and Social Security trustees are scheduled to release their annual report on the status of the programs, both of which face a long-term financial crunch.
Yet, these thieves will try to get voters to believe it is Republicans who are trying to throw granny over the cliff as they steal from Medicare over and over again.
Reblogged this on Gds44's Blog.