Honesty, Integrity, & Medicare.... | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's weekly column appears in the Beaufort Observer.

    We keep hearing that the Anointed One is taking of over $700B out of the medicare trust fund to fund Obamacare. We are told that won't hurt Medicare at all because all the money is "savings" that the Dems are going to realize. How, you ask?? Simple, just reduce the amounts Medicare pays Drs. and hospitals.

    We are also told that the CBO says that the savings are real. Whoa, Nellie... The CBO "scores" what it is told to score. If they are told that Medicare is going to be reduced by $700B and the money will be applied to the increased number of folks covered by Obamacare, that's what they price. Of course the Obama numbers work. All you have to do to make the numbers "work" is leave out some things - like, in the case of the Medicare "savings", the cost of the "Doc. fix".

    Does the first part of that "savings"statement ring a bell?? If not, it should. And then guess what happens next after they make the Medicare "savings". A new piece of legislation, commonly called the "Doc. fix", is introduced and passed. Guess what that bill does. It restores the Medicare reductions in physician reimbursement. For years and years, it has been happening.

    Every time the politicians "save" money by reducing the amount of reimbursement the Drs. receive, they come back later with a bill restoring the cut. If you are trying to teach your kids the meaning of "honesty and integrity", this would not be a good place to start.

    Let me give you just one more example of the honesty and integrity we are being subjected to by the Anointed One and his water carriers. I heard a campaign ad on the TV that started out with, "The non-partisan AARP". It then went on to describe how the non-partisan AARP supports something or other the Anointed One is peddling. Calling the AARP "non-partisan" adds a new and even more sinister meaning to the term egregious. When you start an ad by invoking the AARP as non-partisan and talk about their supporting your position, there is one thing you can be sure of. That is, more lies will follow.

    Anybody who is willing to let the Prez and his spear carriers get away with the same old misdirection (i.e. We'll make it up with "savings".) is obviously either not paying attention or is a prime candidate to buy the bridge I have for sale.

    We are told that the Ryan Plan is going to take Medicare away from the seniors. We are being quoted things that may or may not have been in the original version of Ryan's plan. After it's first exposure to the light of day, it was changed in non-partisan cooperation consultation with Ron Wyden (D - OR). When Mr Ryan became part of the Romney - Ryan team, I believe it has been "tweaked" again. I believe it is in it's second or third iteration. Each one has been an improvement.

    Here's what the current version says about taking Medicare away from seniors:

   No one over 55 is affected. For them, the existing program continues unabated and without change. Period.

    For people 55 and younger, it offers them two alternatives:

    1) stay with the traditional Medicare they know, or

    2) sign up for a "voucher type" system that gives them control over the acquisition and amount and coverage of their medical insurance. In this second alternative, the decision as to which path to follow is up to the individual, not some unelected bureaucrat deep in the bowels of Kathleen Sebelius' Health and Human Services Department.". So who do you trust?? (I rather suspect that they could get AARP support by requiring that those who opt for the vouchers purchase their insurance through AARP).

    Click here for a comprehensive review of the Ryan plan from Forbes Magazine.

    We keep hearing the Dems asking for more details. What we do not hear is a single specific alternative proposal. What we get from the Dems, however, is platitudes and more platitudes. Even as they ask for more detail about the Romney-Ryan plan we do not hear even the hint of anything substantive from them as to how they would save Medicare. Of course, with nothing substantive from the Dems on the table, there is nothing to talk about other than the Romney - Ryan proposal.

    D'ya think??