On the recordFebruary 16, 2012
The health care reform effort signed into law by President Obama in 2010 contains important new benefits for our seniors and Medicare recipients that have already started to take effect. Nearly 3.6 million seniors in the doughnut hole have already saved $2.1 billion on their prescription drugs. Twenty-four million people with Medicare have already taken advantage of free preventive services. Additional reforms such as a prohibition of lifetime caps on insurance expenditures will soon be made available to our seniors, thanks to health care reform. Nothing in health reform reduces Medicare benefits for seniors. Health care reform achieves Medicare savings by cracking down on inefficiency, fraud, and waste in Medicare, targeted at private health insurance companies and providers, not beneficiaries. This is how government should operate: by demanding efficiency, accountability, and protecting taxpayer dollars. ____________________
