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A Kerry Obama Scam: Another ObamaCare Fleecing



UnionLeader.com

Here is yet another in the never-ending list of surprises to emerge from Obamacare: It skews Medicare hospital reimbursements in favor of Massachusetts hospitals and in disfavor of most other states, The Boston Globe and the Associated Press reported last week.

It was disclosed only last week that Sen. John Kerry inserted a provision into Obamacare that changed Medicare reimbursements for hospital pay. Nantucket Cottage Hospital has higher than average pay because it’s a critical access care hospital on the island of Nantucket. Under Kerry’s provision, Medicare must use the Nantucket Cottage Hospital’s pay scale when reimbursing all Massachusetts hospitals for employee pay. The Globe reported that Massachusetts hospitals will rake in an extra $275 million a year from the change.

But here’s the catch. Obamacare required no net increase in those reimbursement payments. So to give Massachusetts that extra $275 million a year, it had to be taken from hospitals in other states. According to the AP, seven states (including New Hampshire) will see higher payments, but every other state will lose money.

It is a massive wealth transfer from the rest of the country to those seven states, just so Sen. Kerry can grease the palms of his state’s hospital executives.

It is no wonder that President Obama doesn’t want people to know the details of his policies (see editorial above) or that Sen. Kerry, as he said last Friday on MSNBC, doesn’t want the media to air the opinions of Tea Partiers and others who disagree with him.

The more ignorant Obama and Kerry can keep you, the better their political fortunes.