A Daily Dose of Truth (#1) - Medicare in Health Care Reform

by: egberto

Tue Oct 26, 2010 at 06:24 PM CDT

Reports of the last few days indicate that the attack on health care reform will continue and, in all probability, escalate in the final days of this mid-term electoral season.  Why?  Because polls show that attack ads work -- even if they are not completely true or, worse, false. Shame on us!

As people of faith -- trusted messengers -- it's our turn!  With fewer financial resources, but with relationships that reach into the depth and breadth of our communities, it is our job to transcend partisan politics and economic self-interests, and to be the truth-tellers in support of a compassionate health care future with a system includes and works well for all of us.

We begin with the declaration that "truth is witness to the whole." We know that one short sound-bite taken out of context -- even if it's a fact -- does not necessarily represent the whole truth. We denounce the use of such sound-bites (from any party!) when they are intended to pervert truth for electoral gain. In the end, we acknowledge that a manipulation of facts to frighten and confuse vulnerable populations is just plain immoral.

 

We can change what's happening, but it means each of us must be willing to share the TRUTH when we hear it.  We can  and must make a difference because health care is, first and foremost, a people issue that should not be relegated to the caverns of political ideologies.  In sharing TRUTH, we are not supporting one candidate over another. We are simply making sure that people make their choices based on truth that witnesses to the whole -- not on distorted perceptions based on mis-represented facts.

"A Daily Dose of Truth" will arrive in your email each day to help you compare what you are hearing to the real TRUTH in the Affordable Care Act. Please help spread the message to the far reaches of our country -- via viral email, Facebook, telephone calls, chats with neighbors, and discussions in your communities of faith. Help us counter what is touted as true (with a little "t") with what is actually the TRUTH!

A Daily Dose of Truth #1:  Medicare in Health Care Reform

When health care reform was passed in March 2010, our nation's seniors became the beneficiaries of a strengthened, improved, and re-structured Medicare system.  A number of provisions will improve Medicare services for enrollees and extend Medicare's solvency for another ten years.

Direct benefits of health care reform for  Medicare beneficiaries

• Prescription drugs.  The prescription drug coverage gap (the "doughnut hole") will be eliminated over ten years.  In 2010, the coverage gap will be reduced by $250 in the form of rebate checks that have already been sent to millions of beneficiaries who have reached the doughnut hole.  In 2011, program enrollees will receive a 50% discount off the price of brand name drugs during the coverage gap.  In ten years, the doughnut hole will be closed completely. Other provisions will expand assistance for some low-income beneficiaries enrolled in the Medicare drug program.
• Preventive care.  For traditional Medicare beneficiaries, in 2011 co-pays and deductibles will be eliminated from most preventive services.  An annual comprehensive wellness visit and personalized prevention plan are added, which are not subject to coinsurance or deductibles.
• Medicare Advantage plans. The private-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans will be prohibited from charging beneficiaries higher cost sharing for services than is allowed in traditional Medicare.  Plans that offer extra benefits will be required to give priority to wellness, preventive care services, and cost-sharing reductions over benefits not covered by traditional Medicare.
• Physician incentives. Generous incentives are in the Affordable Care Act to increase the number of primary care physicians and to encourage primary care physicians to treat Medicare beneficiaries.
• Low-income program. Outreach and enrollment assistance will be increased to beneficiaries eligible for the Part D low-income subsidy program.

$500 billion savings to the system

The $500 billion in cuts that are being denounced in attack ads are NOT cuts to benefits. They are cuts in waste, fraud, abuse, and government subsidies for private-for-profit insurance.  

• Private-for-profit Medicare Advantage. Payments to private-for-profit Medicare Advantage plans will be restructured.  Excess payments will be rolled back, and performance bonuses will reward quality plans.  Part of the argument to privatize Medicare is that the private market can provide the same or more benefits at a lower cost than the federal government can do it.  Supporters believe that competition will keep the prices down and the quality up.  However, recent research is showing that the government is actually paying $1000+ more for Medicare enrollees in private plans than those in traditional Medicare.  Further, only 20% of Medicare beneficiaries are in the private plans subsidized by the government, but 100% of enrollees are paying for those subsidies!
• Waste, fraud, abuse. Penalties will be enhanced on providers for waste, fraud, and abuse.
• Hospital readmissions. Reimbursements to hospitals with excess preventable readmissions and hospital-acquired infections will be reduced.
• Coordinated purchasing. Value-based purchasing for hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, skilled nursing facilities, and home health agencies will be established.

THE TRUTH (with the "big T"):  Because of the 2010 reform of U.S. health care, Medicare is strengthened; beneficiaries will receive increased benefits; and costs will be controlled by cuts in waste, fraud, abuse, and government subsidies to private insurers.

For more information:

Faithful Reform in Health Care: What Health Care Reform Means for Medicare

Kaiser Family Foundation:
Summary of Key Changes to Medicare in 2010 Health Reform Law (Issue Brief)

AARP:  What You Need to Know about the New Health Care Law (webinar)

HealthCare.Gov: Health Care Reform for Seniors (video & other info)

Medicare Rights Center: Health Reform and Medicare (Issue Briefs)

Sign up for the email list of Faithful Reform in Health Care

If you did not receive this email directly from Faithful Reform in Health Care, and would like to receive additional information about the TRUTH in health care reform, sign up for the email list now!

Ignorance Is Bliss / Willful & Fake Ignorance Is Immoral

by: egberto

Thu Oct 21, 2010 at 08:08 PM CDT

While we claim to fight wars on freedom, terrorists, taxes, and many other issues that hardly qualifies as wars, we forget to fight that war that afflicts 97% of Americans. Class Warfare is being waged against over 295 million Americans. If there is a war worth fighting now, this is the war.

Americans are justifiably angry. They are angry because of a jobless recovery. They are angry because of an overwhelming budget deficit whose effects they do not quite understand. They are angry because of unfettered increases in healthcare cost.

Supposedly this anger was instrumental in the formation of the Tea Party grassroots movement. While this may be partially true, the Tea Party comprises the amalgamation of three distinct factions. There is the conservative/quasi-libertarian faction that simply wants small government. There is a super wealthy/corporatist faction that finances the movement and serves as chief purveyor of misinformation to maintain the status quo. And finally there is the racist militant faction that wants to take the country back given their disdain that Americans would elect a black president.

The latter faction while physically dangerous is inconsequential for America's future success as the vast majority of Americans are good people. Of major consequence is what the wealthy/corporatist faction is doing to corrupt the body politic of the country. They have used corporate and personal wealth to perfectly orchestrate a plausible alternate reality. In this alternate reality irrespective of past experience, economics, & mathematics, keeping low taxes specifically on the wealthy (wealthy disproportionately owns most of the income and wealth and as such pay most of the taxes), will somehow generate enough economic activity to increase the absolute value of taxes while reducing the budget deficit. They even got an economist, Arthur Laffer to create a silly curve known as the Laffer Curve to prove this alternate state of reality. The Reagan vs Bush1/Clinton economic policies disproved the lie though the Right continues to disregard reality.

Because of the mainstream media refusal to present the reality of our current economic morass and because of the Right Wing echo chamber continued spewing of misinformation, many political junkies have decided to write books and blogs to attempt to provide information in a cogent manner. I've added my own insight with my book "As I See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Write Wing Doom" at http://books.egbertowillies.com as well as my blog http://politicaltruths.info .

This current election is important. In that light;

• While exploring your support for maintaining tax cuts for both the middleclass as well as the wealthy, consider that on average the middleclass top tax rate is 35% while the wealthy is 15% because income from work is progressively taxed at a higher rate than investment income.
• While exploring your support for ever more reduction in corporate regulations note that said policies have led to the outsourcing of a large percentage of our manufacturing jobs among others. While the wealthy benefits from the cheap labor of said outsourcing, the middleclass continues its decline.
• While being told that repealing the tax cuts on the wealthy would cost jobs, do remember that ten years of that tax rate created no net jobs while more proportional tax rates created the largest expansion in American history in the 90s. The reason is mathematical. The wealthy' s marginal propensity to consume is much less than the average middleclass American. In other words, the middleclass will spend more of their disposable income thus creating more economic activity than the wealthy who already can spend as they please and will not necessarily invest that excess in creating jobs in America,
• It is impossible that the wealthy can be considered overtaxed when middleclass income has fallen 5% in the last decade while the wealthy has continued to grow. The same applies to wealth in worst proportions as well.

It is understandable that in our busy lives, researching for truthful information is neither at the top of our list or something we want to do given the perceive view that our media is providing us legitimate information. The media must balance its interest between its corporate advertisers and its listeners. As such the listener will always be at a disadvantage. Knowing that, it is incumbent upon the middleclass to do their own independent research from a myriad of reputable unbiased sources. Inasmuch as the Internet makes this an easier task, care must be taken to cross reference for valid information. It is that concept I used in putting my book together where all pertinent data is cross referenced. In these times there is no reason to be ignorant of the issues.

Remember, when you go into that booth it is only you, your God, and your conscious. One must forget about their prejudices. One must forget about their fears. One must make the right choice for themselves, their family, and the country.
===================================
My Book: As I See It: Class Warfare: The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom
Book's Webpage: http://books.egbertowillies.com - Twitter: http://twitter.com/egbertowillies

A Book You Must Read Before The Election

by: egberto

Mon Sep 13, 2010 at 10:34 PM CDT

As See It: Class Warfare The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom  is an essential read. Going forward it is imperative that when we go into the voting booth that we are educated voters.

America is currently at a tipping point. There is an ideological battle between the Left Progressive Liberals and the Right Wing Conservatives.

As a husband of a Lupus wife, a father of a UT college student, a UT graduate, a business owner, and a multi-minority, I had to write this book as our state and the nation seem to be suffering from a bout of amnesia.

This book illustrates the massive defects in the Right's policies that have led us to the brink of a precipitous fall over a cliff. The book provides the real narrative that should be the balance between the corporation, the government, and the individual citizen. It dispels the notion of the corporation being inherently more benevolent than the government.

Most importantly the book presents a logical solution to the economic woes of the country. Implemented over time the suggested policy changes would ensure that America lives up to the America we all expect it to be.

This book is an easy read. It will allow you to open yourself and questions all that you thought you knew about our economy.

Class Warfare: The Only Resort To Right Wing Doom
Author: Egberto Willies
Pub. Date: 08.31.2010
ISBN: 1453608168

Books Website