(CNSNews.com) – Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said the recent gag order imposed by Medicare on insurance companies participating in its Advantage program shows that President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats are desperate to pass their health care overhaul legislation.
McConnell, speaking on a conference call Monday, said the Medicare gag order showed that Democrats are "willing to employ any tactic to try to quiet the voices of dissent." McConnell said their "desperation" is illustrated by the way Democrats are trying to "shut up critics of the bill.”
McConnell was referring to a Sept. 21 statement released by the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) – a division of the Department of Health and Human Services – directing companies that participate in the Medicare Advantage program to cease all communication with beneficiaries dealing with the administration’s planned cuts to the Advantage program.
That order was instigated by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) after he discovered that insurance giant Humana, which is headquartered in McConnell’s home state of Kentucky, had sent its Medicare Advantage customers a mailing that warned them of the possible benefit reductions that might occur if the program’s funding were cut.
Baucus called the Humana mailing “false,” while the CMS said it was “misleading” and “confusing.” However, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), Douglas Elmendorf, testified before Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee that, in fact, the administration’s planned cuts to Medicare Advantage would result in seniors losing “more than half” of the added benefits they receive from the privately run program.
Medicare Advantage is a program that pays private insurers to provide additional benefits like vision, dental, and wellness coverage to senior citizens enrolled in Medicare. Currently, Medicare Advantage accounts for approximately 25 percent of current Medicare enrollees.
Elmendorf told senators last week that due to the cuts, Medicare Advantage would see “a reduction of roughly 2.7 million people or 20 percent of the enrollment we project under current law,” by 2019. The reason, he explained, was that reduced benefits would lead to lower enrollment.
“There would be less enrollment than under current law by about 20 percent,” testified Elmendorf. “[Providing only] $42 in additional benefits per month in 2019, and it’s a little less than half of what we would project under current law.”
McConnell called the government’s actions a “gag order” and a “violation of the First Amendment,” saying it was obvious that the administration did not want seniors to know the truth about health care reform.
“The administration imposed a gag order on Medicare Advantage providers that sought to inform their clients about what health care reform would do to their coverage,” said McConnell. “This is an unbelievable outrage.
“It’s absolutely clear that imposing a gag order is a violation of the First Amendment,” he said. “The administration doesn’t want seniors to know that what the Congressional Budget Office told the Senate Finance Committee that very same week that this particular company was telling the truth.”
McConnell, when asked by CNSNews.com whether Baucus and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius owed Humana and other companies an apology, said that instead they should lift the gag order and let companies “tell the truth.”
“What they should do is lift the gag order,” McConnell said. “It’s now gone beyond one company [Humana]. They’ve now told all the sellers of Medicare Advantage plans that they can’t communicate with their customers and tell them the truth about this bill.
“What Humana did was speak the truth, and the Congressional Budget Office in testimony before the Senate Finance Committee underscored that last week,” said McConnell.