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March 1, 2010
Death Panel of One
Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) is already infamous for blocking a temporary extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits for out of work Americans. But included in that package is legislation to prevent a mandatory pay cut for doctors--and by standing in it's way, he's triggered a 21 percent fee reduction to doctors seeing Medicare patients starting today.
Consequently...
The American Medical Association warned of this last week: "A Medicare meltdown now seems certain, as the U.S. Senate has left early for the weekend, abandoning seniors, military families and baby boomers," reads an AMA statement from Friday.
But of course the media will continue to treat the Republicans as a serious party.
Filed under: Healthcare || Jim Bunning || Medicare || Republicans
Posted By Bob Cesca | March 1, 2010 5:00 PM
Comments
Death panel of One? Not if read the MSM's take on it. This from the AP: "Senate gridlock triggers cut to doctors" The article doesn't even mentions Bunning's name until about the 6th paragraph. So the average brain-dead American brushes by this news and just gets the message: Government is incompetetent. Throw out the bums (Democrats)!. See how that works?
Posted by: Leeman67 ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 1, 2010 5:26 PM
sorry for the typos. (using an unfamiliar keyboard ;-))
Posted by: Leeman67 at March 1, 2010 5:27 PM
NPR got it mostly right this afternoon, but they booted the one detail that would make Bunning's lunacy clear to all: NPR said that Bunning wants the bill to be paid for, not that he insists that the bill be paid for out of un-disbursed stimulus money.
Experts on Senate rules, please tell me if I'm wrong, but it seems reasonable to me that if McConnell and Kyl really wanted Bunning to drop this, they'd have shut him down.
Posted by: alopecia at March 1, 2010 5:36 PM
It will play right into the narrative that Medicare has major sustainability problems & that Medicare for all will bankrupt the country. The majority of people won't look beneath the surface to see what has actually happened.
Posted by: ceu at March 1, 2010 5:37 PM
From the party of no to the party of "tough shit"!
Posted by: kansasdem at March 1, 2010 5:37 PM
I'm unclear, what power does Bunning actually have to shut this down unilaterally? How does that work? Why can't any of the other 99 stop him?
Posted by: eljefejeff at March 1, 2010 5:48 PM
I have just one question. This is a $15 Billion dollar bill. Under the President's new PAYGO rule, doesn't Bunning sort of have a point?
http://www.ssti.org/Resources/federal.htm
That's a link to the SSTI, with a complete list of Federal Programs and divisions. Are we saying that with all of those programs, we can't find $15 Billion that can be cut?
That's hard to believe.
Posted by: Political Party Pooper at March 1, 2010 7:59 PM
Contact this asshole: Bunning, Jim - (R - KY) 316 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510 (202) 224-4343. This is a web form you can fill out to file your protest to Bunning's office: http://bit.ly/MnXl6
Posted by: ZIRGAR at March 1, 2010 11:13 PM
