I understand that there is a lot about the new Health Care Reform legislation that is flawed and will basically only benefit those without insurance (which is the great part), as well as the usual suspects, the drug and insurance companies (the bad part). Any benefits for patients, physicians, pharmacies, and employers were removed only leaving a few important improvements. The blame for the Medicare changes that happened in June, as well as a few coming up in the next few months, should be not be directed at President Obama or the new reform, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Only a few parts of the new laws have taken effect. The new law actually will have some benefit improvements to Medicare.
The branch of the government that makes legislation in this country is the Legislative Branch, not the Executive Branch. Congress, on both sides of the aisle, have never done anything that helps citizens, only their masters, the lobbyists. However, the changes in Medicare that took effect in June 2010 were part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003, or MMA, which partly privatized Medicare along with insurance companies rationing healthcare with restrictive prescription drug formularies and requiring documentation of medical necessity for imaging studies like CT scans and MRIs and the rationing of lab tests, just to name a few that have taken place in the last few years. It was passed when there was a Republican majority in the House and Senate and signed into law on December 8, 2003, by President George W. Bush. This is the same legislation that produced the flawed Medicare Part D prescription drug scheme. Need I bring up the "donut hole"? (which will be gradually closed under the new health reform laws.) This law was created for the benefit of the drug companies and insurance companies, and rumor has it, was actually written by those two lobbies.
When the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act begins over the next few years, have at it, bash away at any parts that are less than desirable. But, remember the bad policies for the Medicare changes that are happening now fall in the lap of the Congress in session in 2003.
