Elmendorf said that cuts to Medicare Advantage ... 'could lead many plans to limit the benefits they offer, raise their premiums, or withdraw from the program.' Read that again for yourself, then go read it to everyone you know who is enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.

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With age comes wisdom.  Yes, there is that tired feeling of having been there, done that too many times, but oh the wisdom those times have brought.  How many times have your government representatives told you, “trust us, we know what is best for you?”  How many times have your government representatives told you something that was not true?

Well, your government representatives, specifically President Obama and Democrats who have an iron grip on the U.S. Congress, are trying both tactics again with regard to so-called “health care reform,” and for most of you – us, actually, since this writer is one of you – the stakes could not be higher.

Why have you once again been lashed to the whipping post?  Because the benefits you receive under Medicare – for which you have paid every penny ever demanded from you – cost money, and the geniuses who designed, who have changed and who have administrated the program blew it, time after time after time.  The Ponzi scheme is running out of money, as Ponzi schemes always do.

But even as Medicare is running out of money, Washington has a new scheme for you.  Let’s call it Reverse Ponzi.  The government will take some of your money, a lot, actually, and use it to partially pay for this new government monstrosity, but oh how they are trying to convince you otherwise, and, in fact, desperately trying to silence anyone who will tell you the truth.

Approximately 10 million of you are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, run by private companies under the Medicare system.  Those plans are varied, but some save money, some provide extra benefits, some do both.  There are trade-offs, obviously, but if you go to Medicare’s website, the information, while superficial, directly states that there are, well, advantages to these plans, for some seniors, in the extra benefits and services they provide.

The proposed cuts in those plans currently range from $123 billion to $175 billion, depending on which scheme is under scrutiny.  But all, as of today, impose cuts.

Humana, the large private insurer which runs some Medicare Advantage plans, sought to tell its customers of the threat.  “Millions of seniors and disabled individuals could lose many of the important benefits and services that make Medicare Advantage plans so valuable,” the company wrote.

That is a truthful statement, but the last thing proponents of “health care reform” can tolerate is for seniors to understand it is a truthful statement.  So the Obama Administration ordered Humana to cease and desist from that communication with its customers, and, to make sure no one else gets out of line, ordered all other companies running Medicare Advantage plans not to communicate with their customers on the legislation.

But here is that truthful statement from none other than Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf, directly to the Senate Finance Committee:  Elmendorf said that cuts to Medicare Advantage, and we quote, “could lead many plans to limit the benefits they offer, raise their premiums, or withdraw from the program.”  Read that again for yourself, then go read it to everyone you know who is enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan.

That’s a straightforward analysis of just the impact on Medicare Advantage plans.  The cuts to Medicare itself are in the $500 billion range.  Those cuts are being explained with even greater deception.

When an amendment was introduced in the Senate Finance Committee this week to have the actual legislative language of the Senate bill posted online for at least 72 hours prior to a vote, it was squashed like a bug.  The people who are pushing these bills cannot handle the truth, because they can’t handle you when you have that truth.

Wisdom plus truth is a powerful weapon.  You have it.  Now use it to stop the lies and the deceptions and manipulations that are being used to ram this through.