Top 50 Loony-Left Lies about Medicare

The looney¹ left -- LA Times, NY Times, Think Progess, The Incidental Economist, USA Today, and so forth -- is going apoplectic over the coincidental revival of the Wyden-Ryan Medicare Reform plan (April 1) and the imminent release by the Obama administration of next year's public Part C Medicare Advantage health plan benchmarks (due April 7). The lefties can't reel out their lies about Medicare fast enough and are often tripping over each other with dueling stories.

Therefore as a public service, below is a partial list of the most frequent lies the looney left tells about Medicare:

1. Most seniors did not have health insurance before Medicare. FALSE.
2. Medicare is single-payer health insurance. FALSE two ways.
3. Medicare is government-administered insurance. FALSE two ways.
4. Part C Medicare Advantage is private insurance. FALSE.
5. Original Medicare Parts A and B are public insruance. FALSE uncless you agree that Part C is also public insurance.
6. Medicare recipients get much more out of Medicare trust funds than they put in. FALSE depending on age and depending on age when starting on Medicare.
7. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cuts to Medicare are all to private Medicare Advantage. FALSE
8. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act cuts to Medicare are primarily to private Medicare Advantage. FALSE
9. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) cuts to Medicare do not hurt seniors. FALSE
10. Part C Medicare Advantage subsidies go to insurance companies. FALSE
11. Low-income seniors on Medicare risk financial ruin because of healthcare costs. FALSE
12. Medicare covers all your healthcare needs. FALSE
13. Medicare covers most of your healthcare needs. FALSE
14. Medicare Part D is busting the federal budget. FALSE
15. Medicare covers all your most important healthcare needs. FALSE
16. Low-income seniors cannot afford their Medicare premiums. FALSE
17. Medicare is efficiently managed. FALSE
18. Medicare Advantage cost 15% more than "traditional Medicare" per enrollee. FALSE two ways.
19. Only rich seniors join Medicare Advantage. FALSE
20. Only healthy seniors join Medicare Advantage. FALSE
21. Medicare Administrative Contractors are not insurance companies. FALSE
22. Medicare Administrative Contractors do not perform the same functions as insurance companies peform (like denying claims). FALSE
23. Public Part C Medicare Advantage beneficiaries with Original Medicare are healthier than seniors on Original Medicare plus a private supplement. FALSE
24. The insurance companies that administer Part C are different ("for-profit, blood-sucking" and so forth are the terms typically used by the looney left) than other insurance companies. FALSE
25. People on Medicare depend on Medicare. FALSE
26. PPACA saved all Medicare beneficiaries billions of dollars. FALSE
27. The Wyden-Ryan Medicare Reform proposal wants to end Original Medicare. FALSE
28. Democrats are not in favor of capping (voucherizing) Medicare. FALSE
29. Spending growth rates for Medicare came down because of PPACA. FALSE
30. Using a voucher would mean seniors would have to indvidually negotiate with insurance companies. FALSE
31. Pregnancy counseling was added to Medicare by the Obama administration. TRUE

I feel I can get this list up to a top 50 with a little work.

¹How do you spell it? Looney or loony?