Monday, April 7, 2014

Admin Nixes Scheduled Healthcare Cuts After Dems Complain It Hurts in Election Year

At least we are getting a little more intellectual honesty in our healthcare delays now. Politics trumps the budget, constitution and healthcare policy, chapter 39, from Jonathan Easley writing at the Hill:
The Obama administration announced Monday that planned cuts to Medicare Advantage would not go through as anticipated amid election-year opposition from congressional Democrats. 
The cuts would have reduced benefits that seniors receive from health plans in the program, which is intended as an alternative to Medicare. 
Under cuts planned by the administration, insurers offering the plans were to see their federal payments reduced by 1.9 percent, which likely would have necessitated cuts for customers. 
Instead, the administration said the federal payments to insurers will increase next year by .40 percent. 
The healthcare law included $200 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage over 10 years, in part to pay for ObamaCare....