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.
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.