With big cuts coming to Medicare as a result of Biden administration policies, the White House and Democrats are trying to deflect any political damage by accusing Republicans of planning to cut Medicare.
In December 2022, Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy attempted to pass the “Protecting Medicare Patients and Physicians Act,” which would have protected patients and healthcare providers from a total of 8.5 percent in planned Medicare cuts to physician reimbursements.
“Each year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services establishes a Physician Fee Schedule, which sets out how much a doctor gets paid for a particular service rendered,” Kennedy explains in a statement. His bill “ would have protected patients and health care providers from a total of 4.5 percent in planned Medicare cuts to physician reimbursements.”
The bill would have used unspent COVID-19 relief money from the Provider Relief Fund to reimburse doctors and maintain access to care.
But Democrats blocked the bill, and immediately began accusing Republicans of planning to cut Medicare.
The move is raising suspicions that Democrats are gutting Medicare as part of a 2024 political campaign strategy, knowing the mainstream media will blame Republicans for the chaos and suffering.
“The fact that the president is saying this and saying, ‘Well, you Republicans want to hurt Medicare… I find to be quite ironic… maybe even a tad hypocritical,” said Kennedy.
“And, so, President Biden, ‘the champion of Medicare,’ . . . proposed a four-and-a-half percent across the board cut for every physician treating Medicare in America—that’s 900,000 people in my state . . . in the middle of raging inflation,” Kennedy continued.
Those Biden-planned cuts would have completely cut off healthcare access for many seniors.
“A lot of physicians won’t take Medicare anymore. Because they say . . . ‘We can’t turn a profit. We’re not looking to make,’ say the physicians, ‘obscene profits, but . . . we’re in the middle of inflation. . . . We’re paying more in rent. We’re paying more for our nurses. We’re paying more for supplies, and the Medicare fees that were paid to treat folks on Medicare . . . they’re not keeping up,’” said Kennedy.
But Democrats objected, setting the cuts into motion.
“I didn’t come to my colleagues with just a problem. I came with a solution. . . . I’m not suggesting that we reject President Biden’s attempt to cut Medicare and fill the hole by borrowing the money,” Kennedy explained.
“I went to everyone of my Republican colleagues, and they all said, ‘We’re with you.’ I came to this floor to ask for unanimous consent, but Senator Wyden came to the floor and said, ‘I’m going to object to your bill.’”
“The president can try and blame the Republicans and say, ‘Well, they don’t want to seriously negotiate about controlling spending, controlling debt. All they want to do is cut Medicare.’ He already did it—he did it in December,” Kennedy concluded.
