The Local Politics of Medicare

 

Yes, they're at home for Spring break.  Here's a sampling: 

New Hampshire Voters and Medicare

"At home in New Hampshire, the land of Yankee skepticism, congressman Charlie Bass was being asked to explain his support for the new Republican budget.  'What I have heard is that it would end Medicare as we know it,' a nurse from Charlestown, New Hampshire, told Bass during a town hall meeting last week, holding a printout of an e-mail in her hand."

"At a time of high unemployment and home foreclosure rates, frustration with Congress and rising anxiety over how to deal with the national debt without gutting programs such as Medicare health insurance for the elderly and the Social Security retirement program, such meetings aren't always comfortable for lawmakers."

Pittsburgh

"Altmire ran a commercial accusing Critz of endangering Medicare and Social Security because he did not vote against a Republican budget.  Technically, Critz did not vote for or against the budget: He voted 'present' as part of a move Democrats engineered to embarrass Republicans by making them kill their own budget."

Maine

"He saved his most heated comments, however, for the Republican budget plan -- often known for its architect, Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis. -- that would effectively transform Medicare into a voucher program.  'It's a disaster. In a finite number of years, seniors will be back to where they were in 1955, which is sick and unable to get treatment,' King said.  'I don't know what they're thinking.  Except, I think that proposal represents a strain of thinking that goes back to -- they want to get rid of Social Security and Medicare.'"

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More Against Ryan Budget, Want Social Darwinism?, Romney Deception, Politics Prevents Jobs

Obama Against Prescription for Decline

"Budget politics and the 2012 campaign merged today, as President Obama lit into Republicans and their priorities.  His main target was the House Republican budget plan.  It would cut the deficit by $3.3 trillion in the next decade, over and above the $4 trillion in savings in the Obama budget.  The president addressed the Associated Press annual meeting in Washington."

"PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: For much of the last century, we have been having the same argument with folks who keep peddling some version of trickle-down economics.  They keep telling us that if we convert more of our investments in education and research and health care into tax cuts, especially for the wealthy, our economy will grow stronger."

Budget Promotes Social Darwinism

OPINION:  "The returns weren't all in yet on Tuesday's Republican primaries but President Obama didn't wait. He kicked off his 2012 campaign against Mitt Romney with a hard-hitting speech centered on the House Republicans' budget plan -- which Romney has enthusiastically endorsed.  That plan, by the way, is the most radical reverse-Robin Hood proposal propounded by any political party in modern America."

"It would save millionaires at least $150,000 a year in taxes while gutting Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps, transportation, child nutrition, college aid, and almost everything else average and lower-income Americans depend on.  Here's what the president had to say about it:  'Disguised as a deficit reduction...  it is really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.  It is thinly veiled social Darwinism.'"

Romney Tales

"Romney proclaimed that Obama 'is the only president to ever cut $500 billion from Medicare.'  Given that Romney supports the GOP-backed Ryan budget that calls for severe slashes in Medicare spending, this is an odd charge.  It is also false.  As PolitiFact notes, Obama's 'health care law reduces the amount of future spending growth in Medicare.  But it doesn't cut Medicare.'  By the way, Obama's law expanded certain Medicare benefits.  The fact checking site also points out that Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton each enacted Medicare cuts."

RELATED:  The facts vs. Mitt Romney

Jobs and Medicare: The Ryan Budget

"Not only does this budget seek to change the fundamental structure of the U.S. economy and American society by undermining the popular and successful Medicare program and gifting $3 trillion in tax cuts for the already wealthy, but it also slashes nearly $900 billion from public investments in education, science, and infrastructure critical to growth -- all without offering specific policies for job creation or new revenue sources.  This budget would threaten the progress we’re making by undermining growth and weakening middle-class families."

For Your Information

3 Conservative Myths About Government

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Mitt Romney Claims President Obama Will 'End Medicare'

Romney Strays From Truth, No Surprise

"In a speech Wednesday, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney attacked President Barack Obama's signature health care policy by falsely claiming that Obama 'has taken a series of steps that end Medicare as we know it."

"Romney's speech before the American Society of News Editors was clearly an effort to turn the tables after Obama's own speech before the group on Tuesday, in which the president strongly criticized the federal budget proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), chairman of the House Budget Committee. The Ryan budget would cut Medicare and convert it into a voucher program, cut food stamps and health insurance for poor children, and provide large tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. Romney recently called the budget 'marvelous.'"

MORE:  Romney Accuses Obama Of Taking ‘A Series Of Steps That End Medicare As We Know It’

Just when you  think you've seen almost everything in politics . . .  Although, there were hints of such an attack recently when Republicans tried to criticize the President for "cutting" Medicare.  Meanwhile . . .

President on Attack

"President Obama made clear Tuesday that he’s not about to soften his criticism of Republicans’ Medicare proposals, charging again that the GOP plan would 'end Medicare as we know it.'  Obama also referred to the GOP’s Medicare proposal as a 'voucher' system -- another characterization that Republicans insist is inaccurate."

Last year, we said the Republicans would try to change the terminology, because their market research told them that "voucher" was a four letter word.  Of course, it wasn't long before they began to call it "premium support."

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