One in four Americans eligible for Medicare has also signed up for the additional coverage available under what are called Medicare Advantage plans. They were wise to do so.

But now, while all senior citizens will bear the brunt of the cuts planned by so-called progressives in Washington, those seniors who opted for an additional Medicare Advantage plan will literally have the proverbial rug pulled out from under them by those same hard liberals.

That’s because President Obama insists on reforming America’s private health care system. According to his plan, in order to pay the increased costs of expanding the number of people covered, he must find “savings” through program cutbacks in order to limit necessary tax increases for what he (under) estimates is a $500 billion plan.

Obama’s point man in the Senate, Finance Committee Chairmen Max Baucus, went to work and in one swipe targeted seniors who enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans for a $180 billion cut, effectively changing their own personal choice into a Medicare “Dis-Advantage.” Understandably, that riled senior citizens.

So, last week, under pressure from all sides, Baucus tweaked the number by $10 billion.

Now, if the Democrat majority gets their way, they would still take $170 billion from Medicare Advantage funding as part of an on-going strategy to install a government-controlled public option that most Americans do not want. That fact was confirmed again in the latest Rasmussen poll, released this week, in which the number of respondents favoring reform has dropped to a new low of 41 percent, with 56 percent against any changes.

Despite this reality, hard-core liberals including Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.V.) tell partisans they will continue to “fight aggressively for a government-run insurance plan or public option.”

Last Friday, Schumer said, “This is a battle in a long war, and we expect the battlefield to get better each time.”

Schumer also predicted “the provision will gain backing on the Senate floor and even more support in the House-Senate conference committee.”

In other words, instead of constitutionally respecting the will of the American people, hard-left incumbents are intent on forcing their own will on citizens using a vacuous claim that health reform will be like a free lunch.

But, even some Democrats are wary of the government-controlled public option still being pushed by party leaders, as well as other questions including: Should employers be forced to contribute to the cost of health care? and Who should bear the cost burdens of expanding the current system?

For example, Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said “There’s restlessness among Democrats about how to pay for this.”

Of course, despite Lieberman’s report of Democrat “restlessness,” the answers to those questions will be obvious to anyone who has been paying attention: All Americans will pay the indirect costs that are typically hidden and passed on to consumers in the prices of goods and services. At the same time, various segments of taxpayers will be selectively targeted by incumbent progressives and hit with tax increases embedded in progressive income tax tables, while all working Americans will be exposed to increases in income levels subject to payroll withholding for Medicare and Social Security taxes.

If incumbents are able to pass any of the so-called reform legislation being foisted on Americans, they will have unleashed a “change” virus on one-sixth of the economy that no known healthcare treatment can cure.

As a result, many of our nation’s senior citizens will not only have lost an effective Medicare Advantage program that they paid premiums for and counted on; but they, their children and grandchildren will have also lost yet another advantage of being a free American.

Richard Olivastro is president of Olivastro Communications, a professional member of the National Speakers Association and founder Citizens For Change. He can be reached at RichOlivastroColumns@Olivastro.NET or 877.RichSpeaks.