Tag Archives: Medicare

Paul Ryan takes Obama’s State of the Union speech apart

Budget hawk Paul Ryan on Fox News Sunday.

Snippet 1:

“The irony of this is the president’s policies do the exact opposite.  We basically have this. The president can’t run on his record. It’s a miserable record. He is not going to change his tune and moderate like say Bill Clinton did in 1996 because he’s really stuck with his ideology so he has no choice but to divide. So he is going to run a very decisive campaign for political gain and he has this concept of fairness and equality where he uses the kind of rhetoric we use, but the policies he’s producing will result in crony capitalism will result in more power in the government to supervise our lives, to give us a stagnant economy where the rich and the powerful are the ones who are picking it. So what I’m trying to say is he is giving us a future of debt, doubt, and decline. “

And snippet 2:

“The president isn’t leading. The president isn’t truthful with the American people about what kind of fiscal train wreck is coming, we’re going to be. And we’ll pass budgets to show the country exactly how we propose to fix the problem. You know the thing that is frustrating about this, Chris, is there is an emerging bipartisan census on fixing these big problems. There are Democrats who do agree with us on how to do tax reform. Get the loopholes out, lower the rates. We’re getting a bipartisan consensus on Medicare reform. The problem is the president and his party leader are out on the left standing on the sidelines looking in. So what we clearly need is a new White House and a new Senate and then we can realize this emerging bipartisan consensus on how to fix these problems”.

It’s good that we have Paul Ryan to respond to Obama’s rhetoric.

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Atlanta abortion doctor charged with Medicare fraud

From the liberal Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Excerpt:

A metro Atlanta physician and his former office manager have been charged with Medicaid fraud after they billed the government nearly $400,000 for abortion services – which are barred from federal funding – and for ultrasounds not performed, authorities said.

Dr. Tyrone Cecil Malloy and CathyAnn Edwards Warner are charged in an indictment handed up Dec. 8 by a DeKalb County grand jury with two counts each of Medicaid fraud, according to a news release issued Monday by the Georgia Attorney General’s Office.

Malloy was arrested last week and has been released on bond to await trial, Channel 2 Action News reported. An arrest warrant was issued for Warner, and DeKalb and Clayton county authorities working together took her into custody Monday afternoon.

[…]The alleged fraud occurred at Malloy’s Old National Gynecology, a medical practice in the 6200 block of Old National Highway in College Park, whose website says it specializes in first-trimester abortions.

According to the indictment, between Dec. 9, 2007 and Aug. 9, 2010, the defendants billed the Georgia Medicaid program approximately $131,615 for new patient visits when, in reality, the visits were for elective abortions.

The Georgia Medicaid program is funded jointly by the state and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Under federal law known as the Hyde Amendment, federal funds cannot be used for elective abortion services; nor are abortions covered by Georgia Medicaid, the indictment states.

Malloy and Warner also are charged in the indictment with billing Georgia Medicaid about $255,024 for detailed ultrasounds that actually were never performed during the same period from 2007 through 2010.

What happens when the government gets involved with paying medical bills? We get fraud. Government will never be as careful about how taxpayer money is spent as a private company will be about spending their own money.

Paul Ryan teams up with Democrat Ron Wyden to push Medicare reform plan

Rep. Paul Ryan
Rep. Paul Ryan

From Investors Business Daily.

Excerpt:

Pity the poor Democrats. Here they were counting on scaring seniors about GOP plans to “destroy” Medicare when Rep. Paul Ryan teams up with a prominent Senate Democrat to offer a compromise reform.

From the White House on down, Democrats were wringing their hands this week about the bi-partisan Medicare reform plan offered up by Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

Their plan would shift Medicare from an open-ended health benefit to one in which the government provides a set amount of money for insurance. Seniors could choose from a variety of private, approved plans, as well as the traditional government-run Medicare.

The subsidy would be based on the second cheapest plan in an area, and if seniors wanted more expansive coverage, they’d have to pay the difference out of their own pockets. The reform would also cap the growth in Medicare.

[…]As one Democratic congressional aide told the New York Times, “this plan gives bipartisan political cover to Ryan and other Republicans against whom we have been waging a very successful political offensive.”

[…]While we prefer Ryan’s original proposal to his current one, it’s to his credit that he realized the political need to produce a bi-partisan compromise. Wyden, too, deserves credit for his willingness to buck his party and sacrifice short-term political gain for much needed long-term reforms.

I took a look at Wyden’s ACU ratings, and he has a 9.23 out 100. I have no idea how Ryan got this guy on board. It’s magic.