Nurses in Congress Rip Obama's 'Plan' to Save Medicare

[Geee]

Human Events:

Days after the White House insisted that the President has long had a plan to maintain and reform Medicare, that claim has come under intense fire from three lawmakers who have a particular interest in and understanding of the program—the freshman U.S. Representatives who are former nurses.

In separate interviews with HUMAN EVENTS, Republican Representatives Diane Black (Tenn.), Ann Marie Buerkle (N.Y.) and Renee Ellmers (N.C.)—all of whom were nurses and health care professionals—blasted White House Press Secretary Jay Carney for this claim he made on June 9: “I think we’ve made clear what the President’s plan on Medicare reform is.”

In responding to a question from HUMAN EVENTS as to whether the President has offered a plan to reform Medicare, Carney said, “It’s part of his proposal for his 10- to 12-year budget-deficit-reduction plan of $4 trillion. So we have—there are reforms to entitlements, including Medicare, in the Affordable Care Act. There are more reforms that strengthen and improve Medicare in a proposal he’s put forward for his long-term deficit-reduction plan.”

The three nurses who are now Republican House Members hit this hard.

“I can’t believe [Carney] could say that,” Buerkle told us. “The budget that the President proposed and that he is talking about was rejected 97 to 0 by the Senate. The Affordable Health Care Act would eventually take $500 billion out of Medicare. What he’s talking about is not a plan at all.”