Two Harry Reid Medicare Savings Myths

By Victor Morawski Responding recently to the Senate’s rejection of the Paul Ryan Budget Plan, Sen. Harry Reid propounded two myths regarding ObamaCare Medicare savings when he said, “standing up [for] our seniors by keeping the promise to protect and strengthen Medicare as we did with our health care bill which we saved — waste, fraud and abuse — 500 billion dollars, extended the life of Medicare by more than twelve years.” The first myth is that all (or at least the lion’s share) of the projected Medicare savings from ObamaCare over the next ten years will come from combating waste, fraud and abuse and not in reductions to seniors’ services and benefits. The reality is that this is so far from the truth that it deserves the title of a myth. According to the actuaries at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) who first projected the $575 billion savings for Medicare over the next ten years, only a tiny fraction of these projected savings — $4.9 billion — would be realized under the category “Fight waste, fraud and abuse.” To suggest otherwise is to perpetrate a myth but this seems to be one that Harry Reid and the rest of the Democrats that he speaks for want you to believe. The second myth is that projected Medicare savings from ObamaCare will be used to shore up the Hospital Insurance trust fund (HI) and keep Medicare solvent for twelve more years. Here Harry Reid is hoping that you won’t remember the double-counting debate of a year ago. Get full story here.