Medicare trickery

Medicare trickery

Orlando Sentinel: In a rare demonstration of fiscal responsibility, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday defeated a proposal to wipe out scheduled cuts in Medicare. The proposal would have cost $247 billion, and there were no plans to pay for it.

Known as the doctor fix, the proposal would have canceled reductions in Medicare reimbursements to health-care providers over the next decade. Those reductions are called for under a 1997 law intended to hold increases in Medicare spending to growth in the overall economy.

Part of a pattern

Under heavy lobbying pressure from the American Medical Association, Congress has overridden annual cuts for the past seven years. And supporters of this year’s drive for health-care reform badly want to maintain the AMA’s backing.

The Senate’s Democratic leaders hoped to pass a 10-year doctor fix as a stand-alone bill to make it easier to enact a broader health-care overhaul that wouldn’t add to the deficit. President Obama, after all, has vowed not to add “one dime” to the deficit with health-care reform.

The Senate leaders’ strategy to meet the president’s goal is about as honest as disregarding the monthly mortgage payment to balance the family budget.

Fortunately for taxpayers, a dozen Democrats broke with party leaders and joined Republicans in refusing to play this shell game.

Gimmicks won’t work

It’ll take more than gimmicks to get the federal budget out of its canyon. Last year’s deficit hit a record $1.4 trillion. The national debt, now $12 trillion, is on track to top $20 trillion in another decade.

Supporters of the doctor fix say it is critically needed to prevent health providers from dropping their Medicare patients. Fine. So how about paying for it?