Has ObamaCare turned Medicare into an issue that should scare the Obama campaign more than the Romney one? Yuval Levin at
National Review argues yes:
President Obama has put Democrats in the position of being the party that seeks to cut current seniors’ benefits (especially those in Medicare Advantage) and access to care (thanks to the IPAB) while still allowing the program to collapse in the coming years and so watching the deficit explode and bringing on fiscal disaster. And Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan have put the Republicans in the position of being the party that wants to protect current seniors’ benefits and make them available to future seniors while still saving the program from collapse in the coming years and so dramatically reducing the deficit and averting fiscal disaster.
Whether you’re now a senior and concerned about your health coverage, are younger and worry if you’ll have affordable coverage when you retire, or are most concerned about the nation’s fiscal health and economic future, the Democrats offer you a very bad deal on Medicare and the Republicans offer you a good one.
I think that's right -- at least, the rhetorical point is right. The President's plan raids Medicare, and does nothing to repair the giant sinkhole that is the program's future.
ReplyDeleteThe "still allowing the program to collapse in the coming years and so watching the deficit explode and bringing on fiscal disaster." part is something the Democrats have been doing for over thirty years.
ReplyDeleteI recall being a young man in the 70's and early 80's wanting the Congress to pass a plan to phase in optional private investments while phasing out Gub'ment managed locked in the box social security over a generation or two of retirees.
IIRC Reagan made the attempt in his first term and we know how that turned out. I think I have my time close since I seem to recall that I penned a couple of letters to my elected reps at the time.
An employee at Ye Local National-Chain Bookshop was opining yesterday about the horrors the that P. Ryan would inflict upon Medicare users and mentioned that he, personally, would keep his insurance but he'd been paying for years, et cetera, et cetera. I did not have the heart to tell him that no, once he hit 65 he would quite likely no longer have private health insurance and would have to go onto Medicare, the way the laws currently stand in Texas. And good luck finding a physician who accepted Medicare, given the currently-planned reimbursement rates.
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Yeah, my parents were both forced to sign up for Medicare, even though they have the TriCare (not sure which version of that) Dad is eligible for through his nearly 27 years of service in the Army.
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