Republican presidential hopefuls now forced to argue saving Medicare $400 million in two years was a disaster?

A reminder that Obama's Medicare reform plan, part of the Affordable Care Act, did not cut the program as republicans warned. More than that, it's saved money and ushered in a better, less costly way to provide health care. The Hill: 

ObamaCare program saves Medicare $400 million.

An independent report released by the Department of Health and Human Services on

Going broke or starting to save half billion?

Monday finds that the pilot program saved Medicare more than $384 million across 2012 and 2013.

The pilot program, called Pioneer Accountable Care Organizations, is part of an effort to shift Medicare to paying for quality instead of quantity of care. Under the program, groups of doctors agree to accept lump payments under Medicare instead of individual payments for each service they provide, as in the traditional Medicare payment system.

The idea is to discourage unnecessary tests and procedures and better coordinate care. If the groups of doctors, known as Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), end up keeping costs below the target, they get to keep some of the leftover money, providing an incentive to keep costs down.