Fact Or Fiction?

Now, On That $716 Billion  

• That Obama "robbed" Medicare of $700 Billion: Mostly False.

  First things first: Neither Obama nor his health care law literally cut a dollar amount from the Medicare program’s budget.
  
  Rather, the health care law instituted a number of changes to try to bring down future health care costs in the program. At the time the law was passed, those reductions amounted to $500 billion over the next 10 years.
  
  What kind of spending reductions are we talking about? They were mainly aimed at insurance companies and hospitals, not beneficiaries. The law makes significant reductions to Medicare Advantage, a subset of Medicare plans run by private insurers. Medicare Advantage was started under President George W. Bush, and the idea was that competition among the private insurers would reduce costs. But in recent years the plans have actually cost more than traditional Medicare. So the health care law scales back the payments to private insurers.

  
  
• That Ryan includes the same reductions in his budget plan: True.

  Does Ryan’s budget keep the reductions in Medicare spending? The short answer is yes.
  
  Here’s what Ryan said in an interview with George Stephanopolous of ABC News in June, before his selection as Romney’s running mate:
  
  Stephanopoulos: "You know, several independent fact-checkers have taken a look at that claim, the $500 billion in Medicare cuts, and said that it's misleading. And in fact, by that accounting, your budget, your own budget, which Gov. Romney has endorsed, would also have $500 billion in Medicare cuts.
  
  Ryan: "Well, our budget keeps that money for Medicare to extend its solvency. What Obamacare does is it takes that money from Medicare to spend on Obamacare. ..." (Read the full exchange.)
  
  So Ryan has confirmed his budget includes the Medicare savings.

Just sayin'