Savings from Medicare is in eliminating fraud, not reducing benefits
Patrick Naeger’s comments regarding AARP’s support of the health care reform bill approved by the House of Representatives illustrates his misunderstanding of the savings generated by the plan. Mr. Narger’s assumes this money results from reduced benefits. I suggest that he read the November 2009 issue of the AARP Bulletin which describes the massive amount ($50 billion annually) of fraud in Medicare and the efforts taken by the Justice Department to root out the fraud. Also, overlooked are the efforts to reduce the significant increases in future medical costs that will occur if health care reform does not occur. I am retired and am pleased with my current medicare coverage but I am not happy with the annual increases in my medicare premiums and I am very concerned that future increases in premiums will outpace the increases in social security payments and will jeopardize future health care benefits.
Don Fuller
St. Louis
Don Fuller:
Before we commit to universal healthcare, why not “trigger” it with $50 billion per year in the taxpayer pocket savings from fraud prevention?
Why hasn’t it been done before if it’s possible? Ask our Democratic Congress for the last 3 years, they would not allocate funds for honesty in government now, they want to root out all corruption so they can squander it on something else.
I cannot come up with a term strong enough to describe how gullible anyone has to be to believe this projected $50,000,000,000 fraud savings. Don, I am curious, if Obamacare fails, will they simply abandon efforts to save this $50,000,000,000?
If that $50 billion of fraud annually in Medicare is true, what more would you need to convince yourself that we do not need to give the Federal Government a bigger piece of the health care pie to run as inefficiently as they do Medicare and Medicade.
I was disgusted with AARP’s endorsement of the House Health Care Bill. I have been a member of AARP for over 10 years and nobody asked me for my opinion before making that endorsement on my behalf. Maybe AARP thinks it’s members are too old and senile to make these decisions on their own.
The full page color ad, placed by AARP yesterday thanking Reps Carnahan and Clay for their votes for this abomination of a bill was the frosting on the cake. I guess my dues helped pay for that too. Yesterday I called
888-OUR-AARP to tell them to remove my name from the membership roles since they were no longer MY AARP!
Wow, it’s gonna take a 1900 page piece of legislation to trigger the government to go after 50B in fraud? Now that sound efficient!!
The same naysayers respond with the same idiotic crapola.
It must be hell to be you people.
.
The AARP and AMA both endorsed the plan passed by the house.
Two organizations representing two groups with heavy interests in health care endorsed.
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Get a clue naysayers
This is a good plan
What am I missing here? If fraud is costing us $50 billion a year, then why do we need to pass any healthcare reform at all before putting an end to that fraud? How will new legislation magically put an end to this fraud? Why not end the fraud independent of the legislation?
Since Obama became President there has been a significant increase in US Military casualties in Afghanistan. If you watch the mainstream media you may not know this as troop casualties are not as highly reported as in the Bush days so not to embarrass the Obama administration. But the current administration has also once again put the blame on Bush saying that he didn’t pay enough attention to this war as the reason for this increase. There is most likely another very valid reason. A soldier just returned from Afghanistan.
This brave US soldier says that since Obama has been the “Commander and Chief” US military moral is at the lowest it has been since the Clinton days. He says the biggest reason for the increase in Military casualties in Afghanistan is the largely unreported immediate change in the rules of engagement that Obama insisted on the first week he was in office. No longer are US troops allowed to return fire on suspected terrorist insurgents if any so called civilians are in the area and could come under fire. If they are being fired upon by snipers from a village they are not allowed to return fire especially if any women and children are present.
The Muslim and Taliban insurgents know of this change in our rules of engagement are now using women and children as shields in fire fights with US troops knowing that they will not return fire. One of this recently returned soldier’s best friends was killed in a fire fight by snipers firing from a building in a village where the Taliban had positioned women and children standing in plain view on the roof of the building. His unit was prohibited by Obama’s new orders from returning fire at the snipers. I don’t care how you feel about the war in Iraq or Afghanistan or Bush but to put our brave soldiers in harms way like this and then tie their hands to defend themselves is just wrong!!!
Sage…knock knock.
It’s not the Democratic Congress that’s defrauding Medicare.
It’s your private healthcare industry you admire so much.
Garrison:
“It’s not the Democratic Congress that’s defrauding Medicare.
It’s your private healthcare industry you admire so much.”
How does the private healthcare industry force a Democratic Congress to continue funding a failed and fraud filled government program? The unions bought and paid for every one of them, why do they allow them to go against your noble wishes?
Medicare will be gone!
http://iusbvision.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/cbo-obama-is-wrong-cuts-in-medicare-will-result-in-benefit-cuts/