Hopefuls Talk Medicare
From Kaiser Health News: Romney, Santorum, Others Call For Medicare ‘Premium Support’ In New Hampshire GOP Debate "While health care issues did not take up much of Sunday morning's debate, the candidates agreed that Medicare should be a Rep. Paul-Ryan-style 'premium support' system and former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney said that, in the future, he believes wealthy Medicare recipients should have to pay more for the program."
Must reading (a transcript of those parts of the debate that included some discussion of health care) if you want to better understand how politicians try to have it both ways to get as many votes as possible. And, it's absolutely clear that Medicare is in the crosshairs of the Republican candidates. Given the chance, they will morph it into a very different and far less effective program. The usual good work of KHN.
Santorum: Both Ways on Medicare
"Ever since Republicans in Congress voted overwhelmingly for Paul Ryan’s budget, the GOP has expected its leading Presidential candidates to back a similar Medicare privatization scheme. Most of them have followed suit. Rick Santorum is trying to have it both ways." "'I’ve been campaigning around the state, you know, we should have the same kind of health care that members of Congress have,' Santorum said. 'Well, that’s pretty much what Paul Ryan’s plan is. It’s a -- the members of Congress have a premium support model.'"
"If he truly supports the original Ryan plan, then he’s misleading seniors about how expensive his plan will be for them. If, by contrast, he wants seniors to enjoy the same health benefits as members of Congress, it’s still privatization -- but he’s basically calling for Obamacare for seniors, while simultaneously trashing Obama’s record on health care. "
Santorum Social Security Values
"In the New York Times on Tuesday, David Brooks attributed Rick Santorum's last-minute surge in the polls to the appeal of his family values platform with working-class whites. If Brooks is right, then those same voters should take a second look at Santorum's position on Social Security, a program that represents the best of American family values."
"Poll after poll shows that working-class Republicans are just as likely to support Social Security and oppose benefit cuts as Democrats. According to a July Pew poll, 53 percent of Republicans earning $30-$74,999 called keeping Social Security and Medicare benefits where they are a higher priority than reducing the budget deficit; 62 percent of Republicans making less than $30,000 said the same."
Republican Cuts
From NCPSSM: The Race to See Who Can Slash Social Security & Medicare Most "For those of you who’ve been watching the GOP debates, no doubt you’ve heard the same consistent theme we have -- America’s middle class and poor must continue to pay the price for failed economic policies of the past. Once again, 'shared sacrifice' really just means more of the same. Cut middle-class benefits to pay for tax breaks for the wealthy."
The Republican Reality-Free Zone
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