A recent report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has laid bare the Obama administration’s effort to delay the impact of Medicare cuts in the health care law until after the 2012 election.
Under the new law, cuts to Medicare Advantage funding would force many seniors off their preferred health plans. This aspect of the law was originally intended to go into effect before the election in November, but fearing the political backlash, the administration launched an $8.35 billion "demonstration project" that would effectively delay the cuts until after the election.
The GAO report urged the administration to cancel the project, citing its numerous "design shortcomings" and noting that the program fails to "conform to the principles of budget neutrality," meaning the $8.35 billion is not offset by spending cuts or other revenue, and will have to be borrowed.
The Weekly Standard’s Jeffrey H. Anderson has written extensively about the controversial program here.
"This is a grossly underreported story—one aimed right at what is perhaps Obama's most vulnerable point: his amazing decision to pay for Obamacare largely by looting from Medicare," Anderson told the Washington Free Beacon in an email. "What's more, it ties in the corruption and lawlessness of his administration and hearkens back to the Cornhusker Kickback, the Louisiana Purchase, and Gator Aid."