Seniors and Health Care Reform

Seniors are getting pretty agitated over Obama's proposed health care reform. They're hearing rumors of "death panels" and cuts to their Medicare benefits. Recently at a New Hampshire town hall meeting, President Obama stated that his plan had the backing of AARP. AARP, or the Association for the Advancement of Retired Persons, is the largest lobbying power in Washington. AARP members, and seniors in general, routinely manufacture the largest turnout of any group of eligible voters. AARP offered a very public denial of the President's claim when they issued a statement clarifying that they in fact have not endorsed the President's plan. Robert Gibbs, the White House Press Secretary, is again claiming that the President misspoke.

The President, at this New Hampshire town hall, also tried to ease Medicare recipient's concerns that their benefits would be cut. However, not even a month ago President Obama was talking about how $313 billion in cuts, including $110 billion in cuts from reducing scheduled increases in Medicare payments to doctors, would help to pay for his plan. Would these cuts not necessarily impact seniors' Medicare benefits, via less doctors agreeing to take Medicare patients as well as increased costs associated with their supplemental insurance policies?

The White House is claiming that there is a lot of "disinformation" being disseminated regarding health care reform; what they're not telling you is that they are arguably the biggest culprits.