On Monday, Medicare (and Medicaid) turn 45. And to celebrate, the government will be touting its annual open enrollment. Well, okay, the feds will also be throwing in a plug for government’s role in health reform and what benefits are in store for those who were spring chickens when Medicare became law. Who better to message than the avuncular Andy Griffith?

Clearly targeted at those seniors who still think “death panels” are an essential creation of the Obama plan for reform, the ad — which begins airing in some markets today — will mostly focus on the benefits for seniors inherent in standalone or the program’s supplemental plans under reform. There will be no mention, however, of the major way the new reform law will maintain Medicare solvency well into the next couple of decades: trimming the fat from Medicare Advantage payouts from plans which originally saw benefit under the George W. Bush administration’s 2003 Medicare Modernization Act. | LINK

Related Posts Within Doctor Pundit:

1. New Year’s Eve Eve Newswire: Year-End Deadlines Happy New Year! from Doctor Pundit. Posting to resume on...
2. Prominent Insurer Focus of Medicare Probe Humana, the nation’s second largest provider of Medicare Advantage plans,...
3. Reform’s New Reality: Some MA Plans Explore Partnerships with Third-Party Sources of Pharma Benefits The enhanced federal scrutiny, subsequent disruption, and outright cancellations of...
4. During Open Enrollment, Time to Reflect on Reform’s Medicare Advantage Provision A major provision in the healthcare reform law, the restrictions...
5. Insurers to See Projected MA Rate Increases, But Less Than Expected in 2012 Yesterday, CMS released a statement confirming an increase in reimbursements...