Hands Off

Democrats are finding a new way to make people mad about health care.

After targeting private insurance plans that administer Medicare and proposing cuts to the government program, the political party in power in D.C. is dodging salvos by Republicans who warn that seniors are going to see their benefits cut. It's a sensitive area as seniors get angry about this kind of stuff. And a high percentage of them vote.

Seniors "have reason to be worried that portions of this bill could affect their care," Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, is quoted in the Washington Post.

The plans offered by UnitedHealth Group Inc., Humana Inc., and other insurers are a favorite punching bag for President Obama and Democrats. Known as Medicare advantage policies, the insurers get paid for administering and offering additional benefits like coverage for prescription drugs. It's become a big business for companies like Humana and UnitedHealth and amounts to "stuffing money into the pockets" of private insurers, says Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia.

“This is a rip-off,” Rockefeller tells The Hill. “It’s a wasteful, inefficient program, and it always has been.”

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus proposes cutting $113 billion over 10 years from these programs. He aims to cut another $200 billion overall from Medicare by cutting inefficient practices.

The AARP, the biggest seniors' group in the country, isn't making a stink about the cuts. In fact, an AARP official tells the Post that the reductions are fairly minor, amounting to 3 percent of Medicare spending over 10 years.

But perception is often clouded by emotion in this reform debate. At a town-hall meeting last month, a senior jumped up and warned Republican Congressman Bob Inglis of South Carolina, "keep your government hands off my Medicare." Nevermind that it's already a government program.