Jim Martin: “Buying off seniors with temporary Obamacare waivers is truly despicable.”

(Alexandria, Virginia) – A report issued today by the General Accounting Office (GAO) raises serious questions concerning $8.3 billion spent by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) regarding an “experimental” insurance program for seniors, at a time when millions of seniors would otherwise be scheduled to lose Medicare Advantage coverage due to the President’s health care reform bill.  This highly questionable program has raised the suspicions of many in Washington that politics is at work, prompting a statement from 60 Plus Chairman Jim Martin, leader of the nation’s largest conservative seniors advocacy organization:

“Both the GAO and Medicare Payment Advisory Commission are both highly critical of this project and call it ‘waste’ at a time when Medicare is facing serious problems with cost control and solvency.  The size of this project, more than $8 billion, strongly suggests this is not an ‘experimental’ program, but a slush fund to distract seniors from the serious hit they will take when their Advantage coverage is cut and they are forced onto Obamacare.

“The size and timing of this so-called ‘experimental’ program both point to suspect political motives, not the betterment of seniors’ health care.  If it is true that President Obama is using billions of dollars from HHS to mask the fact that millions of seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage after the November election, it is unconscionable, which is why this entire process and appropriation requires an investigation by the Congress.

“One thing the President and his party have shown over the past four years is that when it comes to health care reform, they cannot be trusted.  They not only cut $500 billion from Medicare to help fund Obamacare, but they have repeatedly fudged the numbers and hidden the true cost and consequences of this legislation on all Americans, but seniors especially.

“Congress must look into this matter fully and investigate why the Administration is buying Obamacare waivers for seniors right before an election.  This doesn’t pass the smell test.”

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