How Obama Doublecrossed Seniors

"President Obama hasn’t just failed to change Washington, he’s given up trying and our nation’s seniors will pay the price. After promising AARP he would strengthen Medicare four years ago, the President has weakened the program by cutting $716 billion to pay for Obamacare. Our nation’s seniors deserve better than the higher costs and fewer benefits that President Obama’s policies will deliver. Mitt Romney will restore President Obama’s Medicare cuts, while strengthening the program for future generations.” – Amanda Henneberg, Romney Campaign Spokesperson

Four Years Ago, Barack Obama Promised AARP That He Would Deliver “The Change We Need” And “Strengthen And Preserve Medicare”:

Candidate Obama, At AARP In 2008: “Now Is The Time To Also Strengthen And Preserve Medicare … That's The Change We Need.” OBAMA: “Now is the time to also strengthen and preserve Medicare, and these reforms will do just that. … As President, these are the policies I will pursue so that older Americans can continue living the longer, better, more productive lives that they have every right to expect. AARP, that's how we'll renew Americans' confidence in a secure retirement. That's the change we need.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At AARP National Expo, Washington, DC, 9/6/08)

Candidate Obama: “So If You're Ok With The Next Four Years Looking Just Like The Last Eight, Then I Am Not Your Candidate. But If You Want Change … Then I Ask You To Give Me Your Vote…” OBAMA: “But I need your help to make it happen. So if you're ok with the next four years looking just like the last eight, then I am not your candidate. But if you want change - if you want to restore that fundamental promise we've made from generation to generation, then I ask you to give me your vote on November 4th. And if you do, I promise you - we will change this country together.” (Senator Barack Obama, Remarks At AARP National Expo, Washington, DC, 9/6/08)

But Our Nation’s Seniors Are Still Waiting For The Change President Obama Promised – Medicare Is Headed For Bankruptcy In Just Over A Decade:

“Medicare Actuaries And Trustees Say Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund Will Be Exhausted In 2024 Under Current Law.” (Robert Pear, “Romney Medicare Plan Draws A Stark Contrast,” The New York Times, 5/15/12)

In 2011, Medicare Trustees Reported That Medicare’s Main Trust Fund Would Be Depleted “Five Years Earlier” Than Previously Projected. “The report offers fuel to President Obama’s Republican critics and increases pressure on leaders of both parties to agree on a long-term plan to preserve the nation’s principal safety net for the elderly. Medicare’s main trust fund will be depleted by 2024, five years earlier than projected last year, according to the report by the trustees overseeing the program — largely because they have downgraded their expectations of economic growth.” (N.C. Aizenman, “Medicare funds Will Be Depleted In 13 Years, Report Says,” The Washington Post, 5/13/11)

Medicare Trustees Have Noted That Failing To Fix Medicare Will Result In Either Drastic Benefit Cuts Or Tax Increases. “The long-range financial imbalance could be addressed in several different ways. In theory, the standard 2.90-percent payroll tax and the additional tax 0.9-percent tax on high-income earners could be immediately increased by the amount of the actuarial deficit to 3.69 percent, or expenditures could be reduced by a corresponding amount. Note, however, that these changes would require an immediate 24-percent increase in the tax rate or an immediate 17-percent reduction in expenditures.” (“2011 Annual Report Of The Boards Of Trustees Of The Federal Hospital Insurance And Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds,” Social Security & Medicare Trustees Report, 2011)

And Instead Of Fixing The Program, President Obama Cut $716 Billion From Medicare To Pay For Obamacare – Jeopardizing Benefits For Today’s Seniors:

According To The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Obamacare Cuts $716 Billion From Medicare. (Congressional Budget Office, Letter To Speaker John Boehner, 7/24/12)

· President Obama’s Senior Campaign Aide Has Bragged That President Obama “Achieved” $700 Billion In “Cuts In Medicare.” CUTTER: “Well, you know ask the wealthy to pay a little bit more. Cut waste from the government. Reform Medicare. More than $300 billion in savings from Medicare. On top of the savings we’ve already achieved. You know I heard Mitt Romney deride the $700 billion cuts in Medicare that the president achieved through health care reform.” (CBS’s “Face The Nation,” 8/12/12)

The Medicare Actuary Has Estimated 15% Of “Hospitals, Skilled Nursing Facilities, And Home Health Agencies” Will Be In The Red Before The Decade Is Over. “In the Office of the Actuary‘s April 22, 2010 memorandum on the estimated financial effects of the Affordable Care Act, we noted that by 2019 the update reductions would result in negative total facility margins for about 15 percent of hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies. This estimated percentage would continue to increase, reaching roughly 25 percent in 2030 and 40 percent by 2050. In practice, providers could not sustain continuing negative margins and, absent legislative changes, would have to withdraw from providing services to Medicare beneficiaries, merge with other provider groups, or shift substantial portions of Medicare costs to their non-Medicare, non-Medicaid payers.” (“Projected Expenditures Under An Illustrative Scenario With Alternative Payment Updates To Medicare Providers,” Center For Medicare & Medicaid Services, 5/13/11)

52 Percent Of Doctors Say Obamacare Will Compel Them To Close Or Significantly Restrict Their Practices To Medicare Patients. (Merritt Hawkins, “Health Reform and the Decline of Physician Private Practice,” The Physicians Foundation, October 2010)

Obamacare’s Cuts Will Cause Enrollment In Medicare Advantage To “Plummet By About 50 Percent” And Leave Seniors With “Higher Out-Of-Pocket Costs.” “In addition to flagging provider cuts as potentially unsustainable, the report [HHS] projected that reductions in payments to private Medicare Advantage plans would trigger an exodus from the popular alternative. Enrollment would plummet by about 50 percent. Seniors leaving the private plans would still have health insurance under traditional Medicare, but many might face higher out-of-pocket costs.” (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar, “Report Says Health Care Will Cover More, Cost More,” The Associated Press, 4/23/10)

· The Medicare Trustees Project These Cuts Will Drive 4 Million Seniors Out Of Medicare Advantage Plans By 2018. (Medicare Trustees Report, 4/23/12)

FactCheck.org, On Medicare Under President Obama: “The Promise That ‘Benefits Will Remain The Same’ Is Just As Fictional As The Town Of Mayberry…” “Currently, about 1 in every 4 Medicare beneficiary is enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. For many of them, the words in this ad ring hollow, and the promise that ‘benefits will remain the same’ is just as fictional as the town of Mayberry was when Griffith played the local sheriff.” (Brooks Jackson, “Mayberry Misleads On Medicare,” FactCheck.org,