Would AARP endorse a $716 billion Medicare cut?

[cthulu2016]

Romney's innoculation against his entirely self-inflicted wound of picking a VP candidate who is most famous for wanting to end Medicare is that Barack Obama cut $716 billion from Medicare in the Affordable Care Act.

True. Sort of. ACA made large cuts in Medicare costs, not net reduction in benefits.

The Medicare cuts, passed in the Affordable Care Act, come in the form of reimbursement reductions to hospitals, Medicaid prescription drugs and supplemental private insurance plans under Medicare Advantage. The Congressional Budget Office projects that they’ll extend the solvency of Medicare by eight years.

The effect of the ACA on the beneficiaries, the actual people on Medicare, is (of course) net positive. Whch is why AARP endorsed this supposed "slashing" of Medicare.

AARP, the seniors’ lobby and chief gatekeeper of Medicare benefits, endorsed the Affordable Care Act despite its cuts, arguing that they wouldn’t affect seniors’ access to care. The law expanded benefits by closing the prescription drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole.” The hospital and drug industries also endorsed the legislation, believing that the additional customers via the coverage expansion would more than make up for the cuts.

It's funny that AARP endorses Obama's supposed massive cuts, instead of endorsing Ryan's Medicare plan. Maybe this has something to do with that...

Ryan’s plan under the Path To Prosperity would end Medicare as an insurance program that directly pays medical bills for the elderly. It would be replaced with a fixed subsidy which seniors may use to buy competing private and public insurance policies on an exchange. If the value of the subsidy does not keep up with the growth of health care costs, seniors would make up the cost and pay higher medical bills.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that Ryan’s plan would raise seniors’ out-of-pocket expenses by $6,500 per year.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/08/difference-between-paul-ryan-barack-obama-medicare.php