It was last summer when Sen. Rick Scott first started telling Americans that rascally Democrats had cut Medicare by $280 billion. By any sensible measure, the Florida Republican was brazenly lying: As regular readers know, the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act empowered Medicare to negotiate lower prices for consumers on prescription medications, generating dramatic savings.
In the English language, there is no credible definition of “cut” under which this falls.
And yet, the GOP senator kept repeating the line, even as journalists kept reminding him of reality. More recently, as the Floridian found himself on the defensive over social insurance programs, Scott once again embraced the same lie, telling the public anew that Democrats cut Medicare, sparking a new round of fact-checking.
That was before the 2022 midterm elections. Now, the public is hearing yet another round of claims about Medicare “cuts” that aren’t actually cuts.
In fact, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which Scott no longer runs, issued a statement just last week insisting that the White House “is trying to gut Medicare benefits,” which was a line the NRSC echoed in a new attack ad. A group representing insurance companies recently began airing related commercials, warning of Medicare “cuts.”
And why, pray tell, is this happening right now, more than 20 months before the next Election Day? As Roll Call reported, the insurance industry and Republicans are trying to “fend off changes to private Medicare Advantage plans:
So far this year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has released two rules aimed at reducing overpayments to Advantage plans while increasing oversight — moves long recommended by nonpartisan government watchdogs and economists. But those rules are being framed by Republicans as cuts to Medicare amid a debate over the solvency of the program, the 2024 elections and the national debt.
As readers might assume, the granular details get very complicated, as HuffPost’s Jonathan Cohn explained very well in a terrific piece this week.
But to briefly summarize, the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services is recalibrating its Medicare payments and trying to rein in overpayments, as insurers claim that the changes represent undue cuts.
David Lipschutz, associate director of the Center for Medicare Advocacy, told Roll Call, “Implying that what they perceive to be cuts to Medicare Advantage payments runs afoul of President Biden’s promise or pledge not to cut Medicare … that’s disingenuous. It’s conflating a stand against indiscriminate budget cuts to the Medicare program with a regulator trying to more accurately pay one of its contractors.” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was less diplomatic. “Any claim that this Administration is cutting Medicare is categorically false. Leave it to deep-pocketed insurance companies and industry front groups to characterize this year’s increase in Medicare Advantage payments as a cut,” the cabinet secretary said in a written statement. “Disinformation being pushed out by high-paid industry hacks and their allies hurt Medicare beneficiaries and the Medicare Trust Fund.” As for Republicans, who’ve found themselves on the defensive on this issue — to my mind, for good reason — they’re continuing to present an argument along the lines of what Florida’s Scott said last year: If the government is sending less money to the Medicare program, it’s necessarily a “cut,” regardless of the context, motivation, or beneficial policy effects. But as Cohn concluded, “What the Democrats are proposing represents an effort to manage the program differently, not change its fundamental commitment to seniors and people with disabilities.” It’s something to keep in mind if the latest round of advertising reaches your television screen.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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