Jesse Kelly, Republican candidate for Congress, has launched his latest campaign with a lie about Medicare. This lie is the one about how Obamacare cuts $500 billion from Medicare. It has been used over and over by Republicans, and it is untrue.

For the Kelly campaign, this is just another version of the “Gabby stole your Medicare” signs that were posted all over Tucson in 2010. I hated those signs back then, and I’m really irritated by Jesse Kelly lying about Medicare yet again.

Here is the truth about Jesse Kelly’s lie, as reported in the Washington Post:

The savings actually are wrung from health-care providers, not Medicare beneficiaries. These spending reductions presumably would be a good thing, since virtually everyone agrees that Medicare spending is out of control. In the House Republican budget, lawmakers repealed the Obama health care law but retained all but $10 billion of the nearly  $500 billion in Medicare savings, suggesting the actual policies enacted to achieve these spending reductions were not that objectionable to GOP lawmakers.

The Obama health care law also raised Medicare payroll taxes by $113 billion over 10 years, further strengthening the program’s financial condition, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Since about half of the $500 billion stems from reduced outlays for Medicare hospitalization expenses, the payroll taxes and those reductions would add about $358 billion to Medicare trust fund balances.

Repeat a lie enough times and it becomes the truth. 

That seems to be the Jesse Kelly and Republican strategy when it comes to Medicare.

I just checked back to what I wrote about Jesse Kelly in September 2010 when he was quoted in the Arizona Daily Star as saying, ““Giffords cut $500 billion from Medicare, and Giffords eliminated Medicare Advantage, and now she is lying about…..”. The title of my post was “Jesse Kelly: Misinformed on Medicare Advantage”.  It seems nothing has changed since his last campaign.

An email being sent to seniors, warning of large increases in the Medicare Part B premium.  But is the email accurate?  Factcheck.org looked at the accusations in the email and found them all to be false.

EMAIL BEING SENT TO SENIORS:

MEDICARE PAY INCREASE:  For those of you who are on Medicare (or will be soon), read the short article below.

It is about the monthly amount of money you are going to pay into Medicare in 2011, 2012 and the huge increase you will pay in 2013. You will pay it.

Social Security:  Congress will not allow an increase in the social security COLA (cost of living adjustment). However, the per person monthly Medicare insurance premium will be increased from the 2009 premium of $96.40 to $104.20 in 2010, $120.20 for the year 2011, AND a yearly increase to a wonderful $247.00 in 2014. Thank You Obamacare!

In the meantime, Congress gave themselves a $3,000 a month Cost of Living Adjustment!

Send this to all seniors that you know.

REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER 2012

THE TRUTH:                                 

Factcheck.org investigated these claims and found:

It falsely claims “Congress gave themselves a $3,000 a month Cost of Living Adjustment,” when the truth is that Congress voted to deny itself any pay increase at all, both for 2010 and 2011.

§  It wrongly blames Congress for disallowing any cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients. It’s true there was no COLA for Social Security recipients in 2010 or in 2011, but that was due to the workings of a long-standing formula and not the result of any vote by the current Congress or the previous one. We covered this in detail in 2009 and the Social Security Administration has an explanation posted as well.

§  It claims that “those of you who are on Medicare” can thank “Obamacare” for increases in the per-person monthly Medicare premium — “to a wonderful $247.00 in 2014.” This is also false. The basic premium for Medicare Part B (which covers physician services) was indeed $96.40 in 2009. But the other numbers are all wrong. It was $110.50 last year, for example, and not $104.20 as claimed. And it is $115.40 this year, not $120.20 as claimed.

Actually, only 27 percent of Medicare beneficiaries are paying the basic rate. The rest — 73 percent — are paying less under a “hold harmless” provision triggered by the lack of a cost-of-living increase in Social Security this year or last year. Most are still paying $96.40.