Cheri Tales Chapter 3: Cheri’s Frightening Support of Medicare Cuts

January 19, 2012

Welcome to the third chapter of Cheri Tales, a collection of stories and fables about a politician who will say and do anything to get elected. The tales focus on Cheri Bustos, a Democrat candidate running for Congress in Illinois 17th district. In this chapter, we will focus on Cheri’s puzzling support for $500 billion in cuts to Medicare.

One year ago today, Cheri Bustos’ Democrat colleagues voted to keep the government takeover of healthcare, keeping $500 billion in cuts to Medicare in place. (Roll Call #14, 1/19/11) We have already seen how Cheri likes to distort the facts when it comes to Medicare. In fact, Cheri’s distortions were named the “Lie of the Year” by PolitiFact. Cheri claims to want to “protect Medicare,” but she can’t hide from the impact of her party’s disastrous healthcare experiment. Not only has this terrible law caused higher insurance premiums and rising costs while threatening the doctor-patient relationship, but it’s also cost jobs, punishing small businesses with an assortment of new taxes and fees.

CHERI TALES: “We must protect Medicare.” (Quad City Times, 10/28/2011)

REALITY: One Year After Dems Voted to Continue Government Healthcare Takeover, Americans are Suffering the Consequences:

DEMOCRATS STILL BRAGGING ABOUT $500 BILLION IN MEDICARE CUTS.

PELOSI ADMITS “WE TOOK A HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS OUT OF MEDICARE” WITH GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: “You don’t have to have cuts in those initiatives in order to reduce cost there, and we have proven that we’re willing to make cuts in the cost to initiatives. We took a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare in the Affordable Care Act, the health care bill, already, and there’s certainly more opportunities for savings in that respect.” (Remarks from Nancy Pelosi, CNBC’s “Closing Bell”, 10/29/2011)

OBAMA’S MEDICARE PLAN: EMPOWER “15 SAGES” WITH “THE POWER OF THE PURSE”: “Fifteen members will serve on the Independent Payment Advisory Board, all appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. If per capita costs grow by more than GDP plus 0.5%, this board would get more power, including an automatic budget sequester to enforce its rulings. So 15 sages sitting in a room with the power of the purse will evidently find ways to control Medicare spending that no one has ever thought of before and that supposedly won’t harm seniors’ care, even as the largest cohort of the baby boom generation retires and starts to collect benefits.” (Editorial Board, “The Presidential Divider,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/14/2011)

HEALTHCARE PREMIUMS ON THE RISE.

DEMOCRATS’ HEALTHCARE DISASTER CAUSING PREMIUMS TO INCREASE: “At the moment, the new law is making health care slightly less affordable. Independent health care experts say the law has caused some insurance premiums to rise. As we wrote in October, the new law has caused about a 1 percent to 3 percent increase in health insurance premiums for employer-sponsored family plans because of requirements for increased benefits. Last year’s premium increases cast even more doubt on another promise the president has made — that the health care law would ‘lower premiums by up to $2,500 for a typical family per year.’” (D’Angelo Gore, “Promises, Promises,” FactCheck.org, 1/4/2012)

HEALTHCARE COSTS CONTINUE CLIMB.

“COSTS CONTINUE TO OUTPACE INFLATION,” WITH 7 PERCENT INCREASE IN JUST ONE YEAR: “[T]otal health care costs continue to climb to unprecedented levels, reaching an anticipated $11,176 per active employee in 2011—up from $10,387 in 2010 (Figure 6, page 5)—a 7.6% increase in gross costs over this period.” (“16th Annual Towers Watson/National Business Group on Health Employer Survey on Purchasing Value in Health Care,” Towers Watson, March 2011)

SMALL BUSINESSES GET HAMMERED WITH NEW COSTS.

INSURANCE COSTS RISING “PARTICULARLY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES”: “As Congress continues to debate the new health care law, health insurance costs are still rising, particularly for small businesses.” (Robert Pear, “As Health Care Costs Soar, G.O.P. and Insurers Differ on Cause,” The New York Times, 3/4/2011)