I attended a press conference this afternoon by Marty Lamb, candidate for the U. S. House of Representatives from the Third Congressional District of Massachusetts. Mr. Lamb held the press conference to say that the cuts to Medicare included in the healthcare reform bill passed by the Obama Administration are unacceptable.
This is the press release from the press conference:
Today, Marty Lamb, Republican candidate for Congress in Massachusetts Third District, criticized Congressman James McGovern for saying Obamacare "is paid for."
During an interview on April 1, 2010, with "On the Record, "Congressman McGovern claimed Obamacare is "paid for" and it is going to "reduce the deficit."
"The incumbent is just plain wrong. His statement is just more proof that he will say or do anything to push his partisan agenda," said Lamb. "I don't think Medicare cuts for seniors are the way to pay this new government mandate."
After the bill was passed, the Congressional Budget Office reported that the new healthcare law could potentially add another $115 billion over 10 years to government healthcare spending, pushing the 10 year cost of the overhaul to about $1 trillion.
Factcheck.org stated the following:
"Obama has also said he has "identified two-thirds of those costs to be paid for by tax dollars that are already being spent right now." But "identified" is the operative word. These savings are estimates and whether around $650 billion (about two-thirds of the cost of health care over 10 years) can be saved remains to be seen. Most of the money would come from Medicare, but cuts in payments to insurers and practitioners aren't popular measures that move easily through Congress."
"Unfortunately, this bill robs Peter to pay Paul by cutting Medicare. Adding another trillion in federal spending is not a sound decision for our country's fiscal well being," said Lamb.
Lamb fears that the new healthcare law will cost even more than $1 trillion. "Here in Massachusetts we saw the predictions for costs grossly underestimated. Worse yet, health insurance costs skyrocketed for the small business community. We should not repeat these mistakes on a national basis," said Lamb.
The final version of the President's healthcare overhaul legislation contained $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. These are some of the specifics:
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In a 3/20/10 Congressional Budget Office letter to Speaker Pelosi, the non-partisan office estimated that the reconciliation package would result in a $455 billion reduction in Medicare spending from 2010 to 2019.
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CNN.com's Political Ticker reported, "The reform plan includes cutting the costs of Medicare, the government-run health plan for seniors, by about $500 billion"
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The Washington Post reported, "it would cut an additional 60 billion from Medicare, bringing total cuts to the program to more than $500 billion over the next ten years.
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