What does Obamacare mean for seniors?

There are few issues in the United States right now which are more controversial than the Affordable Care Act. Officially titled the ‘Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,’ but often called ‘Obamacare,’ the law seeks to require individual Americans to have a minimum level of healthcare insurance coverage.

And with last week’s Supreme Court ruling that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional, it increasingly looks like a sure thing. But what does it mean for America's seniors?

Here are two views:

A recent editorial from USNews.com argued that seniors are the “big winners” under the new healthcare plan:

-    The Affordable Care Act will decrease the average cost of medications for beneficiaries of Medicare’s Part D
-    Because everybody will be required to have health coverage, insurance companies will not be able to charge unreasonable premiums

On the other side of the debate is a recent article from NationalReview.com, which argued that the Act hurts seniors. It presented the following arguments:

-    Millions of seniors enrolled in a private plan called Medicare Advantage will lose more than $40,000 in benefits from age 65 on
-    With fewer benefits, Medicare costs will still increase by $25 billion over 10 years

What do you think? Is the Affordable Care Act – or Obamacare – good for seniors, either at home or in assisted living communities?