The first debate of the 2012 Presidential Election is over. It is vital that everyone become an informed voter, and understand exactly how each candidate stands on important issues. Here is some information to help you understand what Obama and Romney plan to do with Medicare.
As we get closer to the election, you are going to hear a whole lot of misinformation about exactly what each candidate is intending to do. This is the Insurance blog, so I am going to focus on what the Obama/Biden plan is for Medicare. (I already covered information about the Romney/Ryan plan in a previous blog).
Barack Obama is 51 years old, and is not yet eligible for Medicare. Joe Biden is 69 years old. He is eligible for Medicare. I cannot find any information that clearly states whether or not he is using it.
Information about the Obama/Biden plan for Medicare can be found on the Barack Obama website. (as well as HealthCare.gov). Here are some key points about what Obama and Biden plan to do with Medicare:
“People enrolled in traditional Medicare will save an average of $4,200 in health care expenses over the next 10 years.”
People currently enrolled in Medicare already have access to annual wellness visits with their doctors, free of charge. Those who become eligible for Medicare in the future can expect the same. People currently covered by Medicare are receiving preventative care for free, and this will continue under the Obama/Biden plan.
The infamous “doughnut hole” (the gap in coverage for prescription drugs that has existed in Medicare), will close for good by 2020. Seniors who fall into that coverage gap before 2020 will get a 50% discount on brand name drugs.
An infographic at Whitehouse.gov notes that the Affordable Care Act increases federal sentencing guidelines for health care fraud offenses by 20% to 50% for major fraud crimes. It also points out that the Obama administration’s efforts on fighting Medicare fraud has returned $10.7 billion dollars to the Medicare Trust Fund since 2009.
Those who are critics of the Obama/Biden plan are fearful of misinformation that has been spread that the Affordable Care Act includes “death panels”. Paul Ryan brought up this concept in at least one of his videos about Medicare. In reality, the Independent Payment Advisory Board is specifically prohibited from rationing care.
Others are critical of the Obama/Biden plan for Medicare because of a frequently repeated piece of misinformation that Romney brought up in the debate. Romney said that Obama would cut $716 billion from the Medicare program. This claim has been discredited by independent analysts.
Image by DonkeyHotey on Flickr