The claim: President Obama seeks to repeal Medicare through health care reform
The source: Political commentator Dick Morris, who posted an article on his website titled “Obama Will Repeal Medicare.” The article states “the principal impact of the Obama health care program will be to reduce sharply the medical services the elderly can use. No longer will their every medical need be met, their every medication prescribed, their every need to improve their quality of life answered.”
The status: To help pay for reform, the president and legislators propose cutting Medicare payments to increase efficiency among providers. The amount of the cuts remains in flux. The New York Times wrote on Aug. 10 that “major bills in Congress would cut more than $150 billion over 10 years from federal payments to private health plans that care for more than 10 million Medicare beneficiaries.”
The president’s position: Last month, he told an AARP town-hall meeting: “Nobody is talking about reducing Medicare benefits. … What we do want is to eliminate some of the waste that is being paid for out of the Medicare trust fund that could be used more effectively to cover more people and to strengthen the system.”
The verdict: False, but people are nervous. The AARP writes, “It’s inconceivable that any lawmaker would commit political suicide by proposing to get rid of Medicare.” agrees that Medicare is not going away, but after consulting experts, it notes, “It’s a stretch for Obama to say that Medicare patients won’t see changes in their plans as a result.”
Sources: The New York Times, , AARP and The Associated Press. Compiled by Denver Post researcher Barry Osborne.
