Liberals pan benefit cuts in Obama plan

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: The Hill

Liberals on and off Capitol Hill are hammering President Obama's proposal to scale back Medicare and Medicaid benefits as part of his newly released strategy to cut deficit spending.

While the liberals are praising many elements of the president's plan – particularly the tax hikes for the wealthiest Americans – they're already vowing to fight provisions to push additional costs on seniors and other beneficiaries of the nation's popular healthcare entitlements.

"While we support cutting waste, fraud and abuse, we reject any proposal that cuts benefits in Medicare or Medicaid," Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), co-chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement.

"We reject false Republican assertions that the solution to our deficit is deep cuts to programs that millions of Americans rely on, and we would hope President Obama would as well."

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/182409-liberals-pan-health-benefit-cuts-in-obama-plan

[orpupilofnature57]

1. Just doing Liberals job ,they should be as revered for their Bias ,as

Progressives are to Nullify.

[SoapBox]

2. NO cutting Medicare / Medicaid...

Dems, Progressive and Liberals...THIS says it all and should be our MANTRA!

"While we support CUTTING WASTE, FRAUD and ABUSE, we reject any proposal that cuts benefits in Medicare or Medicaid," Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), co-chairmen of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said in a statement."

...cut the waste...cut the fraud (Gov. Scott of Florida!)...cut the abuse!

Period.

[Enthusiast]

3. I was sent to see a "specialist"

for an undiagnosed health issue. After several appointments with the specialist my wife and I determined that the specialist refused to diagnose my problem so that he/they would profit from a battery of unnecessary tests. We determined this after WE diagnosed the problem ourselves. We have no medical training.

We discovered that I had a severe food sensitivity that should have been perfectly obvious to the specialist. In our opinion we were victims of a medicare scam that we assume is commonly perpetrated on millions of patients nationwide.

Strangely enough we had a similar experience when I had a sensitivity to a medication. Trip after trip to another "specialist" including many expensive tests resulted in no diagnosis. Again my wife and I determined that I had a sensitivity to a certain medication. We reduced my medication dose, saw an improvement, stopped taking it altogether and found the symptoms go away entirely.

[jwirr]

4. You handle that by reporting them to the officials not by cutting benefits

to people who have no other health care insurance. Those programs are vital to the existence of many persons including the disabled, the elderly and the poor. And they have built in mechanisms for dealing with fraud but that means that the user must report the crime. Just cutting across the board would mean that many people would just have to die quickly. Did you report these two cases?

[Enthusiast]

8. You are right.

There is no more "evidence" than our suspicions. The specialists concerned can simply deny wrong doing. But we know better. In both instances they knew they 'milk' my condition for all it was worth with complete impunity. At the same time I was really suffering and although maybe not life threatening it could conceivably have damaged my health for the rest of my life.

[jwirr]

14. However, most of the providers who got caught were repeating the

same actions over and over. When a doctor looks like they are spending more than other doctors in the same field they are investigated. A heads up on this one would have shown the Medicare/Medicaid investigators where to check.

[rhett o rick]

6. I think we all agree that reducing fraud is a must. But I am afraid his cuts

will be more.

[Enthusiast]

9. Right.

There are millions of us that simply cannot afford greater out of pocket health care costs. And I do consider myself among the most fortunate. As long as I can get medicare, that is.

[Chemisse]

13. That could be why - or it could be because many physicians don't

deal well with subtlety, and food sensitivities require that they actually put on their thinking caps rather than follow a memorized flow chart.

[cstanleytech]

7. Odd, I read that the majority of cuts was not aimed at the average person but rather and I quote

"The biggest cut to Medicare would require pharmaceutical companies to lower their rates to some beneficiaries. The proposal would save Medicare an estimated $135 billion over 10 years starting in 2013. The change would allow the federal government to receive the same brand-name and generic rebates for low-income Medicare patients as are provided to Medicaid beneficiaries."

[rhett o rick]

12. What's your point. No one is against reforms only cuts to benefits. nm

[rhett o rick]

5. Freddie, do you support the Liberal view or the Conservative view? nm

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. I support the moderate view

[rhett o rick]

11. Does that mean you support only small cuts to Medicare? nm

[No Elephants]

15. "Liberals" or simply traditional Democrats, rather than DLC types?

So much misuse and so many lies around the term "liberal."