Democrats Win A $400 Billion Cut In Medicare

04 Dec, 2009 by William Teach

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This is the kind of issue that, if the GOP leadership was smart, will very shortly be showing up in commercials and talking points from now till the 2010 elections

In the first showdown over the Senate health care bill, Democrats on Thursday successfully defended more than $400 billion in Medicare cuts, turning back a potentially lethal stab at the measure.

On a 58-42 vote, the Senate defeated an effort by Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, to send the bill back to a committee where lawmakers would have had to drop the cuts in Medicare payments and instead find another way to pay for the bill, which overhauls the nation’s health insurance system and guarantees coverage for tens of millions of people who lack insurance.

Are you paying attention, senior citizens and those soon to be considered eligible for Medicare? The Democrats formally and officially just voted to reduce Medicare spending. All that money that has been taken out of your paychecks? Yeah, forget it. Want to see the doctor? Well, you will just have to get in line. Need a knee replacement or hip surgery? Nope, sorry, here’s a cane. A cheap one.

In addition to the Medicare cuts vote, the Senate adopted an amendment that gives the government authority to eliminate co-payments for women’s health screenings such as mammograms – and along the way turned back a Republican effort to try to stop the government from relying on task force recommendations to decide what services should be covered.

What I would like to know, and cannot find in this story or any other, is from whom are the co-payments being eliminated? From Medicare and/or Medicaid? Or from private health insurance providers? Is the government now dictating even more rules in the private sector?

And the second part, those would be what Palin was referring to when she called them “Death Panels.” Government bureaucrats dictating treatments, and who gets what.

As the saying goes, read the whole thing. Lots of information packed into the story, including the typical Democrat claim of “fear-mongering.”

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove