# 30 billion out of medicare ?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [August 31, 2009, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346 "2009-08-31T13:31:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346/21 "2009-09-02T01:36:59Z")

</div>

> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> Can the gov’t take money directly out of Medicare to fund other programs? My understanding was that it had its own dedicated tax, so that even if they saved 30 billion by cutting medicare payments, they couldn’t turn around and put that money into the new health program.
> 
> Plus Medicare will be running a deficit in the near future, so any money saved by cutting expenditures there are unlikely to go towards new programs, but will almost certainly be swallowed by growing costs elsewhere in the program.

A proper Universal Health Care statute would do away with Medicare (and Medicaid) completely, as it would no longer be needed.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346/22 "2009-09-02T02:44:48Z")

</div>

> [@Frank](#):
>
> A proper Universal Health Care statute would do away with Medicare (and Medicaid) completely, as it would no longer be needed.

OK, but Hatch is presumably talking about one of the actual proposals for Health Care Reform, all of which preserve Medicare in it’s current state, presumably funded by the same pay-roll tax, which again I believe is dedicated to paying for Medicare and can’t be diverted to other programs.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346/23 "2009-09-02T02:49:05Z")

</div>

> [@Simplicio](#):
>
> … which again I believe is dedicated to paying for Medicare and can’t be diverted to other programs.

Yes, it can. All it takes is a law to do it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\
**Post date:** [September 2, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346/24 "2009-09-02T03:23:00Z")

</div>

> [@Frank](#):
>
> Yes, it can. All it takes is a law to do it.

Seriously? I said that the current laws being contemplated don’t do it. Not that it was for some bizarre reason totally untouchable by any conceivable law. And while passing a law could indeed divert funds, as a practical matter trying to pass such a law would probably be political suicide.

But in anycase, I _think_ Medicare Part B is actually covered by the General Fund, so there is an existing mechanism by which Medicare savings can be passed to pay for Health Care Reform. And indeed, it appears Obama has proposed reducing Part B payments (or at least, slowing the annual growth of some of them) to help pay for the proposals, though I’m having trouble figuring out what exactly would be cut under these proposals.

In anycase, I’d be willing to bet that that is what Hatch is talking about.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/30-billion-out-of-medicare/508346.md?page=1)