On Wednesday Fox News posted an article explaining the impact Obamacare will have on hospitals and hospital care for senior citizens. I will admit that as a senior citizen I have a vested interest in this battle, but someday everyone who is voting in November will be a senior citizen. Their well being may one day depend on their vote.

The article reports:

Under ObamaCare, hospitals, hospice care, dialysis centers, and nursing homes will be paid less to care for the same number of seniors than if the health law had not been  enacted. Payments to doctors will also be cut.

Scientific evidence published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a leading scientific journal, suggests that forcing hospitals to spend less on elderly patients will produce deadly results.

The article points out that slashing the amount of money hospitals are paid does not end fraud and waste–it simply forces hospitals to cut back on staff and equipment. This is not the quality medical system that Americans have come to expect.

The article concludes:

Medicare is the single largest source of revenue for hospitals. Richard Foster, Chief Actuary of Medicare and Medicaid Services, testified to Congress that the ObamaCare cuts will eventually force 40% of hospitals to operate at a loss, affecting the standard of care. Foster also cautioned that 15% of hospitals may stop accepting Medicare.

There are safer ways to control Medicare costs, including inching up the eligibility age, asking seniors to pay an affordable share of their bills, preventing hospital infections, and empowering patients to be cost-conscious consumers. Of course, politicians will try to claim that the easy answer — slashing payments to hospitals — won’t hurt patients,  but the evidence shows that’s untrue.

It’s time to repeal and replace.