Once again, Gabrielle Giffords misled her constituents, this time in her Health Care Reform statement praising the Affordable Health Care for America Act. Her politically biased, one-sided description speaks volumes about her lack of integrity and how she views seniors in her congressional district . . . with cold-hearted loathing.
Giffords stated the Act “will provide security for seniors, guarantee access to health insurance coverage for the uninsured and make health care affordable for the middle class . . .” and that the Act will “[i]mprove Medicare for 135,000 beneficiaries . . .” What Giffords did not tell her constituents is 279,833 Arizona seniors will lose their Medicare Advantage coverage because Giffords voted to gut Medicare funding by $500 billion. Giffords cannot gut Medicare and simultaneously improve it.
2010
Giffords announced a number of “benefits” to health reform:
* New health care plans and select grandfathered plans will allow 57,000 young people in District 8 to remain on their parents’ insurance policy until their 26th birthday.
* Children with pre-existing conditions can no longer be denied health insurance coverage. The law prohibits that practice for new health plans as well as grandfathered group plans.
* Children covered by Medicaid or State Children’s Health Insurance Programs cannot be dropped from the plan.
* Adults covered by State Medicaid programs cannot be dropped from the plan.
What she failed to tell her constituents is the federal government will reduce Medicare reimbursements for hospitals who provide seniors with long-term and inpatient and rehabilitation care. Giffords certainly made her seniors feel more secure. First she eliminates their Medicare Advantage coverage then reduces Medicare reimbursements to hospitals.
2011
Here are Gifford touted benefits of health care reform in 2011. First, Medicare Part D recipients who fall into the “donut hole” will receive a 50 percent discount on their prescriptions. A new, voluntary insurance plan providing modest cash assistance for long-term in-home or nursing home care becomes available.
Insurance companies will be held accountable for unreasonable rate hikes. The law supports states in requiring that insurance companies submit justification for requested premium increases. Any company with excessive or unjustified premium increases may not be able to participate in new health insurance exchanges.
Employers will start reporting the value of employees’ health care benefits on their W-2s. Community health centers will get increased funding to treat low-income and underserved individuals.
What did Giffords fail to tell her constituents?
* Medicare Advantage cuts begin.
* Seniors will be means tested and forced to pay higher Medicare Part D premiums.
* Medicare reimbursements will be reduced for seniors who use MRI and CT scans begin.
* Medicare reimbursements for seniors’ use of ambulances and durable medical equipment will be reduced.
2012
Giffords noted that nonprofit insurance co-ops will be created to compete with for-profit insurance companies. Physicians, hospitals and payers will be encouraged to band together in “accountable care organizations.”
What did Giffords fail to tell her constituents?
* The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursement rates to any hospital with high readmission rates.
* The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursement rates for seniors on hospice care.
* The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursement rates for seniors on dialysis.
2014
Giffords stopped describing the “benefits” of the Democrat health care reform act at 2012. Do you wonder why? Here’s the reason.
The federal government will establish an Independent Payment Advisory Board with powers to make further, draconian cuts in Medicare reimbursements.
2015
The federal government will cut Medicare reimbursements for seniors who depend on home health care.
Giffords failed to tell her constituency the truth, the whole unvarnished truth. Giffords has betrayed her senior constituency. She repeatedly failed to inform them of the draconian cuts in reimbursements . . . only in Medicare.
The federal government is not making any cuts in reimbursements for the federal employees’ health plan. Tri-care (for military dependents) reimbursements are not being reduced. Only Medicare reimbursements are being reduced. Only Medicare Advantage health coverage is going to be slashed.
Giffords and her fellow progressive-socialist Democrats have targeted seniors for health care coverage reduction, health care reimbursement reduction and health care premium increases.
Giffords claims to be a fiscally conservative blue dog but she is just a Pelosi lapdog who willingly and knowingly put a knife in the back of every senior in her congressional district.
Thank you to Congressman Mark Kirk, R-ILL, for his permission to use information from his web site. And good luck to the Congressman as he runs for Barack Obama’s old Senate seat.
