On the fourth anniversary of the enactment of Obamacare, Republican gubernatorial candidate Frank Riggs cited the looting of Medicare to pay for Obamacare subsidies as another reason the flawed law should be repealed and replaced with market-based reforms.
Shelley Kais, a candidate in Arizona’s CD2 race, called upon the Obama administration to reverse, overturn or halt a series of new rules and regulations that she says are “shifting the focus of medical care provided under Medicare from the patient to the government and creating undue hardships on our nation’s senior citizens.”
In a statement released on Tuesday, Kais did not call for the repeal of the ACA.
Riggs, a former U.S. Congressman, pointed to findings by the Congressional Budget Office (“CBO”) that Obamacare will funnel $200 billion out of Medicare Advantage and into Obamacare over the next decade. Enrollment in Medicare Advantage has more than doubled over the past eight years and over 15 million seniors, more than a quarter of all Medicare beneficiaries, now participate in the program. Obamacare’s $200 billion raid amounts to about $13,000 per current Medicare Advantage enrollee.
“As a member of Congress, I fought to reform and strengthen Medicare,” Riggs said. “I’m the only candidate for governor with a proven record of protecting Medicare. It should remain a retirement health insurance program and shouldn’t be raided to pay for Obamacare, including the expansion of Medicaid in Arizona.”
“Arizonans and all Americans want choice and freedom, not mandates, when it comes to their health care,” Riggs concluded.