Obama Kicks Seniors Yet Again

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will have a negative impact on seniors' access to care. Much of the funding for the ACA is derived by cutting $716 billion from Medicare over the next decade. One major cut includes a 25 percent fee reduction to physicians who treat Medicare enrollees. ObamaCare is also slated to cut funding for Medicare Advantage (MA) plans, which covers nearly one in every three Medicare enrollees. Compared to traditional Medicare, MA plans provide approximately $825 annually in added benefits to its mostly moderate-income enrollees.

The Obama administration is now poised to take another swipe at seniors — this time cutting their choice of Medicare Part D drug plans. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) wants to do away with the most popular Medicare drug plans: ones that offer seniors lower premiums (and lower cost sharing) in return for patronizing a preferred pharmacy network. CMS also wants to limit the number of plans an insurer can sponsor in each service region to only two, which will reduce seniors' options for drug plans.

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