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Indpndnt

(2,391 posts)
2. Just the opposite.
Sat Sep 22, 2012, 01:44 AM
Sep 2012
11 Myths About Health Care Reform


http://www.aarp.org/health/health-insurance/info-09-2012/medicare-and-health-care-reform-myths.1.html|


MYTH 5: The new law "raids Medicare of $716 billion."

It's simply not true. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Congress' independent and nonpartisan budget scorekeeper, recently estimated that the changes to Medicare in the ACA will reduce spending by a total of $716 billion between 2013 and 2022.

"That's where the number comes from," says Guterman. The largest portion of these savings would come from changes to provider payments and correcting overpayments to insurance companies that offer private Medicare plans. "And that projected savings will be used to close the prescription drug 'doughnut hole'; to pay for free, preventive care for consumers; and to increase coverage for the uninsured," Lavarreda says.

All guaranteed benefits in Medicare were protected. These measures actually strengthen Medicare's fiscal viability: Before the ACA was passed, Medicare's Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which is used to pay hospital bills for Medicare beneficiaries, was projected to run out of money by 2017; after the law was passed, that date was pushed back to 2024.

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