Study: Obamacare Hits Seniors With $1,500 Benefit Cut

  New Study Shows ‘Obamacare's Medicare Advantage Cuts Will Lead To Benefit Reductions Of About $1,500 Per Beneficiary’

Obamacare: ‘Benefit Reductions Of About $1,500 Per Beneficiary’ “Obamacare's Medicare Advantage cuts will lead to benefit reductions of about $1,500 per beneficiary, according to a new analysis from a conservative think tank. The American Action Forum, founded by former Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin, said almost all Medicare Advantage beneficiaries will feel the effect of cuts to the program.” (“Study: Cuts To Medicare Advantage Top $1,500 Per Senior,” National Journal, 4/17/14)

• “Roughly 30 percent of Medicare beneficiaries—about 16 million seniors—use the privately administered Medicare Advantage plans.”(“Study: Cuts To Medicare Advantage Top $1,500 Per Senior,” National Journal, 4/17/14)

Obamacare: $308 Billion In Medicare Advantage Cuts MEDICARE ADVANTAGE CUTS:

• CBO: ‘Medicare Advantage Rates... 156 [billion dollars]’ “Changes in outlays from direct spending... Medicare Advantage Rates... 2013-2022: 156 [billion dollars]” (Douglas Elmendorf, CBO Director, Letter To Speaker Boehner, P.5, 7/24/12)
• CBO: “Our estimate of the interaction between the FFS provisions and payment rates for MA [Medicare Advantage] plans is $152 billion.” (CBO, E-Mail To Senate Staff, 7/24/12)
• CBO: “The sum of those two effects is $308 billion.” (CBO, E-Mail To Senate Staff, 7/24/12)

Senior Losing Doctor: ‘It Hurts, It Hurts Inside And It’s A Terrible Feeling’ KY Senior: “Following the last Medicare Advantage Program decrease in federal funding tied to Obamacare, my premiums doubled and I was faced with a $500 deductible that I didn’t have before. ...this was sticker shock...” (Sen. McConnell, Constituent Mail, 1/18/14)

UT Seniors: “My husband and I have been personally affected by the recent healthcare reforms that resulted in $200 billion in funding losses to Medicare Advantage. Our medical providers informed us that they are no longer participating in our plan.” (Sen. Hatch, Constituent Mail, 1/27/14)

CT Senior: “Dorathy Senay's doctor had some bad news after her last checkup, but it wasn't about her serious blood disorder called amyloidosis. Her Medicare Advantage managed care plan ... is terminating the doctor's contract Feb. 1. She is also losing her oncologist at the prestigious Yale Medical Group — the entire 1,200 physician practice was axed.” (“UnitedHealthCare Medicare Advantage Cuts Doctors,” Kaiser Health News, 11/29/13)

NY Senior: ‘Obama had said I could keep my doctor. Now they’re doing away with my doctor. They kicked him out! After 20 years, that’s not right’ “ObamaCare is making seniors sick. Elderly New Yorkers are in a panic after getting notices that insurance companies are booting their doctors from the Medicare Advantage program as a result of the shifting medical landscape under ObamaCare… [Dr. Jonathan] Leibowitz’s patients are furious. Alfred Gargiulio, who has cerebral palsy with a seizure disorder, has been seeing Leibowitz since 1993. ‘Obama had said I could keep my doctor. Now they’re doing away with my doctor. They kicked him out! After 20 years, that’s not right. We love Dr. Leibowitz,’ said Gargiulio.” (“Elderly Patients Sick Over Losing Doctors Under Obamacare,” New York Post, 10/25/13)

FL Senior: “The AARP managed care network [George Smith] had relied on for years will drop all eight of his and his wife's doctors as of Jan. 1. ‘I couldn't believe it. I have my house and car and everything insured through AARP,’ said Smith, 73. ‘I thought, “They are not going to drop me. I've been a member for years.”’ … Patients have received letters telling them to seek new physicians if they want to stay on the plan. Doctors … have learned that AARP plans will stop paying for their services next year.” (“Patients Scramble After AARP Medicare Advantage Plans Drop Providers,” Tampa Bay Times, 10/21/13)

KY Seniors: It’s “tough for seniors to have to find new doctors, especially for those who live in a rural area. It means travelling greater distances and spending more on gas. It is a sad thing when good doctors leave a plan because of funding cuts.” (Sen. McConnell, Constituent Mail, 1/31/14)

NY Senior: ‘It hurts, it hurts inside and it’s a terrible feeling to think that you can’t get what you want’ “Doctors are getting bumped off plans and their patients are getting worried, Brennan reported. ‘I just can’t believe it because this is the man you rely on,’ heart patient Leonard Goldberg, 82, said. ‘It hurts, it hurts inside and it’s a terrible feeling to think that you can’t get what you want,’ Tony Molesphini, 83, said. ‘Nobody wants to die, me above all people,’ 79-year-old Jim Heffernan said. The three men with heart trouble say their biggest problem is losing the doctor they’ve had for decades, and they fear for their future. … They claim that they that this is a way of cutting costs which they have to do because they are getting a reduction in their reimbursement for the Medicare Advantage plans due to the Affordable Care Act,” [Dr. David Hess] told Brennan.” (“Doctors Dropped By Insurers As Affordable Care Act Rollout Continues,” CBS New York, 11/1/13)

FL Senior: “A Medicare Advantage plan that covers 35,000 beneficiaries in Southwest Florida is dropping at least 300 doctors and hard-to-find medical specialists from its Southwest Florida network… Cape Coral resident Joseph Ryan said his 92-year-old mother will lose access to her regular dermatologist, orthopedist and gastroenterologist, among others. He's heard similar stories involving scores of doctors from others. ‘That's an awful lot of doctors and an awful lot of people who are going to have to figure out what to do in January,’ Ryan said. ‘It's not just one or two doctors.’” (“United Healthcare Dumps Doctors,” The News-Press, 10/18/13)

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