Back to Obamacare: An Addendum

As some of my readers have pointed out, the change in my Oxford AARP Advantage plan with respect to colonoscopies (and other benefits as well), was the insurance company's decision, not the Democrats.  Yes, that's true but only to a point.  The Democrats changed the way Advantage plans are reimbursed, cutting back considerably on the moneys they receive; and, of course, the private insurance companies who run the Advantage plans then cut back on benefits.  As someone on the left, I agree that unless every Medicare recipient has an equal shot at good benefits, we should not be funding private insurance companies to the disadvantage of those who can't join an Advantage plan.  Approximately 25% of Medicare recipients are in these plans; unfortunately those who live in rural or underserved areas are stuck with plain vanilla Medicare.  However, let me also point out that the Democrats knowingly lied to seniors when they were planning on defunding Advantage plans, stating that only the insurance companies would be affected.  They knew this was not true (I certainly did) and I wrote Obama and other Democrats many times (called as well) requesting that they stop making false claims about such changes.  The Democrats have been very dishonest with respect to the changes they initiated in medical coverage for seniors and they deserve to be called on it.  As I did, and do.