Sen. Bill Nelson, Spinmeister
During an interview with Greta van Susteren Wednesday night, Bill Nelson told a whopper or two. Follow this link to read the entire transcript. Here’s the whopper Sen. Nelson told:
VAN SUSTEREN: Does the bill — does the bill cut Medicare?
NELSON: What it does is…Medicare Advantage…that is a 14 percent boost to insurance companies…which is Medicare Advantage, it’s a Medicare HMO…what it does is it tapers that out over time. But what I did was in the Finance Committee say that we need to certainly get the efficiencies over time, but it’s not fair to take it away from the people that already have this additional 14 percent. And so in the Finance Committee, I grandfathered in those that have it, particularly with regard to my state.
So that’s the lay of the land. That was done for some other states, as well.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right, that’s the Medicare Advantage. What about Medicare itself? Are people going to lose some of the benefits that they have had under this Democratic bill?
NELSON: Well, the answer to that is no. As a matter of fact, what this bill does is save Medicare in the future because if you don’t change Medicare right now, it’s going bust within a few years. This brings the cost curve down over time, so that Medicare will be solid. And where it gets the efficiencies is the doctors, the hospitals, other health care providers have to come off of some of the reimbursements that they get under Medicare. That’s how you get the efficiencies.
Medicare won’t be solid because of the Medicare cuts. That’s because the money being cut from Medicare is going to insure the uninsured. Sen. Nelson knows that because that’s what the CMS actuary testified to recently.
More significantly, though, is the fact that Sen. Nelson essentially said that the way to saving Medicare is cutting re-imbursements to doctors and hospitals.
MEMO TO SEN. NELSON: Doctors are already losing money on Medicare patient. That’s why they’re limiting the number of Medicare patients they treat. If Medicare is cut more, hospitals will go bankrupt. Meanwhile, doctors will either go bankrupt or retire, leaving seniors without the health care they need.
Sen. Nelson would be wise lining up a lobbyist’s job while he’s still a senator. Voting to cut Medicare isn’t the way to endear himself to Florida’s seniors. On the contrary, it’s the fastest path to joining the retirement community.
I haven’t talked much about Sen. Nelson of Florida but I’ll take the opportunity to expand on him here. I’ve never trusted him because he isn’t a principled politician. In short, he’s slippery. That isn’t where the American people are at. After dealing with President Obama, they’re looking for principled politicians whose statements don’t come with an expiration date. They want politicians that aren’t looking for the next too-clever-by-half angle to exploit.
The bottom line is that Bill Nelson is dishonest. What he isn’t is a man of gravitas.
Technorati Tags: Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Health Care, Doctors, Hospitals, Reimbursement Rates, Bankruptcy, Retirment, Rationing, Democrats
Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog
December 18th, 2009 at 10:56 am
You’re absolutely spot on Gary. He’s a shyster in every respect. Floridians have a blind spot when voting for senators. They had Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez in Wahsington at the same time. Both bummers!
December 18th, 2009 at 10:59 am
Hmm… Maybe my spelling of Washington was a Freudian slip.
December 18th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Politicians seem to think doctors are in the business for altruistic reasons. Maybe that’s why some of them (especially the older ones) started, but in reality they are in a business, they are businesspeople, and when their bottom line is cut, so is their service.
But who would expect any socialist to pick up on that?
In the future look for a (failed) USSR-type schooling system where children are tracked to specific professions at the earliest grades, so when graduating from HS they won’t have to decide whether to become a doctor or not - the state has already made up their mind for them.
In the meantime, look for a flood of “doctors” from India, Latvia, Nigeria, Lower Slobovia, etc., whose main claims to proficiency are that they survived childhood.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:39 am
Currently, the only incentive for politicians to do what is right, follow the tenets of the constitution, and act in the best interest of their constituents is the remote possibility that they might, at some arbitrary time in the future, be voted out of office if they do not. But, given the short memories and selfish desires of voters for ever-increasing levels of pork, incumbents are overwhelmingly returned to office. (eg. Harry Reid.)
This system is no longer reliable, especially in the case of career pols retiring with a golden parachute, having enriched themselves while in office through graft and influence peddling.
It is time for a new mechanism whereby politicians are held personally accountable for their immoral, self-serving behaviour.
December 19th, 2009 at 9:55 am
It appears that Nelson has opted for the early retirement package.
I hope his Chicago friends come through for him.
December 19th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
His Chicago “friends” won’t come through for him - they couldn’t care less about his sorry butt. As noted on the next post, hopefully Nebraskans will give him an early retirement, but I wouldn’t count on it. They were dumb enough to return him several times, weren’t they?
December 19th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Sonny, I couldn’t disagree more wholeheartedly. I’ve never seen an issue where voters felt more passionately or took things more personally than they’re taking health care.
This isn’t just another issue. This is VISCERAL!!! And blogs like this & TEA Party activists everywhere will be constantly reminding people that Ben & Bill Nelson & others totally ignored their constituents. TEA Party activists will be constantly reminding people that it’s because of the SIXTY SELLOUTS that they’re paying higher insurance premiums & higher taxes than if they’d done nothing.
If anything, the intensity of the people’s anger will increase, not decrease.
December 19th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Gary, maybe 10 turnarounds in the elections are a perfect storm for the elephants, but more likely 6 or 7 lost seats for the donks next November.
As far as the 2012 elections go, they are so far away, and the voting public has such a short attention span, I doubt if anything voted on this year or early next will have any effect on those elections at all.
Gary, you’ve more confidence in the public (that one short year ago voted Duh-1 into office because of misbegotten guilt and he can read reasonably well from a teleprompter) than I do, but I fail to see where the basis for the confidence is. Remember, Gary, we are talking politicians here (both parties) that seem more susceptible to human foibles than we, the people, and are willing to sell their worthless souls to the highest bidder, the devil be damned. Nelson (or Nelson) is not so much unlike the rest of the skunks’ butts we call senators in this country.