Obama Says Health-Care Reform Won't Cut Medicare Benefits. CBO Disagrees.

At an AARP-hosted forum earlier this summer, Obama reassured seniors that "nobody is talking about reducing Medicare benefits."

 

Does that mean the president thinks Congressional Budget Office head Doug Elmendorf is a nobody? Because, contra Obama, Elmendorf says that the plan put forward by the Senate Finance Committee, "would reduce the extra benefits that would be made available to beneficiaries through Medicare Advantage plans."

I'm not sure it's worth defending Medicare against cuts (even if they are probably imaginary), but this sort of direct contradiction from an agency as respected as the CBO isn't going to do much to calm seniors' fears.