The Unkindest Cuts Reversed

The Obama Administration has quickly decided to reverse February's decision to make cuts to Medicare Advantage plans as Republicans have spent the last six weeks running ads in states like Florida saying how Democrats are the ones really cutting Medicare (pay no attention to Paul Ryan scrapping the program and replacing it with subsidies.)

In a move with big election-year implications, the Obama administration announced Monday that it would reverse a proposed cut to private Medicare Advantage plans. The decision undercuts one of the GOP's favorite lines of attack on Obamacare and on Democrats in general.

The change announced by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services transformed what was a projected 1.9 percent payment cut in 2015 that had been proposed in February into a projected 0.4 percent payment increase.
Medicare Advantage plans are alternatives to Medicare offered by private insurers where recipients share some of the cost of the generally more generous plans. Insurance companies, alongside congressional members from both parties, had urged a stop to the proposed cuts. In total, Obamacare is supposed to cut $150 million from the program over 10 years.

America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's top lobbying group, called its blitz to stop the cuts its "largest-ever mobilization." Monday's announcement is a big win for the industry -- though it means more red ink for the federal budget. Independent analysts said insurers could still face cuts, though they should be smaller than originally expected.

For Republicans, though, it might be unwelcome news. Attacking the cuts, authorized under Obamacare, had become a favorite criticism of the health care reform law -- especially as other critiques dwindled. And they quickly sought to portray Monday's change as political opportunism by the Democrats.

Which is funny, coming from Republicans over the last 20 years.  Meanwhile, it seems the Obama administration is willing to make compromises to satisfy both seniors and the insurance companies that provide gap coverage for them (and that my friends is a big, big business.)