Bill Clinton's September 5 claim that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) made no cuts to Medicare it was just another Obama Medicare lie. According to an AP transcript (possibly gated), Bill Clinton said at the Democratic convention -- referring to the PPACA -- that
"There were no cuts to (Medicare) benefits. None."
Now you can have all these angels-dancing-on-a-head-of-a-pin discussions about whether the $500/$700 billion in cuts to fund non-senior insurance are really cuts because the cuts are made to providers and payers not to beneficiaries. Democrats say no they're not. Republicans say... well you've heard it all a hundred times.
But Clinton was specifically and indisputably wrong to say "no" and "none" based on reading the non-partisan MedPAC June 2011 report to Congress.
PPACA specficially calls for real cuts to Medicare beneficiaries, according to MedPAC (page 70, lower right), saying:
"The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) directs the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) to revise standards for medigap policies Plan C and Plan F. These standard (Medigap plan) types are the only ones that cover all Medicare Part B cost sharing. The new law requests the NAIC to revise Plan C and Plan F standards to include requirements for nominal cost sharing to encourage the appropriate use of physicians’ services under Part B. New standards are to be based on evidence published in peer-reviewed journals or current examples used in integrated delivery systems. NAIC’s revised standards are, to the extent practicable, to be in place as of January 1, 2015."
By "The new law," MedPAC means PPACA, Bill.
You can argue you didn't have sex (I guess meaning you didn't have intercourse) with that woman.
You can argue about what the meaning of "is" is.
But you can't say "no" and you can't say "None."
-- Dennis Byron
