Dems: "Republicans Want To End Medicare" (VIDEO)

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele penned an op-ed in the Washington Post on Monday accusing Democrats of looking to gut Medicare.

Five days later -- on the eve of a three-day weekend -- Democrats are hitting back.

Republicans are no friends of seniors, a new ad from the Democratic National Committee argues. The party is reminding voters that Republicans opposed Medicare from the beginning and in recent years have even voted to end it for younger generations.

The GOP did, in fact, oppose Medicare when President Lyndon Johnson signed it into law and conservative elements of the party have long sought to end it.

In 1996, GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole bragged about voting against it in 1965. "I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare . . . because we knew it wouldn't work in 1965," Dole said, according to the DNC.

Obama has proposed cutting the Medicare Advantage -- a Republican designed, privatized boondoggle that costs roughly 12 percent more than regular Medicare -- to offset spending increases associated with health care reform.

Some seniors worry they'll lose their doctor or dentist if the program is cut, and even Democrats in states with high elderly populations - Florida Sen. Bill Nelson, for instance -- are nervously watching the reaction. The GOP points to the cuts to Medicare Advantage as evidence that Democrats are cutting Medicare.

The charge is galling to the party that launched Medicare and has defended and attempted to expand it since then, which explains the sharp tone of the ad.

The ad, "Republicans Want to End Medicare," will air on cable and in Washington, D.C., a DNC aide said, and is backed by a "healthy" six-figure ad buy.

Michael Steel, spokesman for House minority Leader John Boehner, dismissed the attack. "Dick Gephardt called and he wants his talking points from the 1990s back," he said in an e-mail. "This is a feeble attempt to distract from the fact that Washington Democrats are backing hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicare cuts, and American seniors are furious about it."

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Comments

[policyhack]

Have we really reached this point in the health care debate? Do we always have to end up in the gutter?

http://axisofreason.com/2009/09/07/gop-grand-obstructionist-party/

[policyhack]

This is a terrible development. The Democrats have jumped into the mud with the Republicans. These tactics only serve to scare and confuse voters. It is possible to win a battle of ideas without cynically embracing disgraceful distortion and fear mongering.

http://axisofreason.com/2009/09/07/gop-grand-obstructionist-party/

[Arrecho]

Show up!

September 13th, across the nation... March for a public option. If you live in DC - you *MUST* go!

http://www.marchforhealthcare.com/

For more events across the country:

http://www.marchforhealthcare.com/events

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=118144661546#/group.php?gid=118144661546&ref=mf

Spread the word....

[Professorofdesire]

Go Dems' ; let's act more like a cohesive political party and less like a college debating society.

[CTtransplant]

NO trigger!!!

Never ever ever give up!!! Folks, do not forget the marches on September 13th!!!
If not now, when? If not us, who?

Kennedy was one of our greatest champions of health care reform. He carried the torch for a long time...and now it is up to us to continue to carry it!

Our elected officials in Congress receive health care mostly paid for by us tax payers, yet many are trying to make it impossible for us to purchase an affordable plan of our own :

While many of us are struggling to afford medical insurance/medical bills.
While Congress people try to stop healthcare reform.
While Congress people accept large contributions from lobbyists to prevent health care reform.

Please sign these petitions - and by all means, spread the word! Thank you!

http://www.petitiononline.com/PubOp676/petition.html
http://www.democrats.com/honor-ted-kennedy?cid=ZGVtczQ0MTA5OGRlbXM=
http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4922/content.jsp?content_KEY=2763&tag=hk1_typ-e1

[hdivr]

Medicare Advantage is not "Medicare". It is a private option that seniors choose to REPLACE their Medicare coverage.

They were lied to and sold a bill of goods while salespeople told them it was the same or "just as good as Medicare".

IT IS NOT MEDICARE. It is a private Medicare plan to further efforts for repubs to end Medicare for seniors once and for all.

Oh, and since it is private, they charge more and play in the stock market....­.........f­yi........­....

[Golfer59]

As a Democrat I would to know why the Democratic Party did not scream from the Mountain tops that this was actually what Medicare Avantage was all about?? Are you sure you know what you're talking about here??

[Ron1951]

In addition to the original Medicare "fee-for-service" program, Medicare offers beneficiaries the option to receive care through private insurance plans. These private insurance options are part of Medicare Part C, which has also been known as Medicare+Choice plans, and is now called Medicare Advantage. The most common type of Medicare Advantage plans are health maintenance organizations (HMOs),

Medicare Advantage is a means of receiving health care and Medicare coverage. The beneficiary must specifically opt to receive Medicare coverage and care through an HMO, or other private plan insurance. Once the choice is made, the beneficiary must generally receive all of his or her care through the plans providers in order to receive Medicare coverage. The main premise is that through preventive care and the use of a primary physician who acts as a "gatekeeper" to specialized care, health care costs can be reduced while beneficiary health can be maintained.

Private insurance plans are generally paid a fixed rate per beneficiary by Medicare, regardless of how many or how few services the beneficiary actually requires.

Medicare HMOs are also required to provide additional services, over and above those available through the traditional Medicare program, without additional charge to Medicare enrollees. The HMO not only provides or arranges for direct medical services, but also, at initial decision stages, decides what care is reasonable and necessary. Enrollees are generally "locked in" which means they can receive Medicare coverage only for services provided through the HMO's providers.

[Siebenstein]

I would truly like to "end" Republicans.

[ilse]

Ditto.

[leeman79]

Man, I wish FDR would have established a national healthcare system. Thanks for everything else though.

[ProudLiberalDemocrat]

Attacking the GOP for failing to offer 1 single vote in support of Medicare when it was started in 1965.......not one vote........this is a great ad from Democrats.

Democrats should also let folks know that the GOP is against Social Security too.

These are the types of talking points that Senator Obama and his surrogates used during the campaign. For the life of me, I cannot understand why Democrats are only now using this tone to counter-attack the right-wing nonsense.

[reno1190]

huh ,not only end medicare if gw bush had his way the rethugs would have destroyed social security as well all seniors & the disabled should thank the dems for stopping those thugs .not only would you tag along rethugs wearing those tin foil hats you would have a tin cup on every corner to go with that hat, think about it.

[Tim303]

I wonder if anyone else has ever received a $13000 ambulance bill for a one block ride? Guess how much it cost in my birth country, the UK.

[Professorofdesire]

Was that amount with or without a tip?

[AllShookUp]

Republicans are not our friends. They're interested in making you fear change and then blaming any change that might do us some good on the Democrats. I don't know how many times we have to be hit over the head with it, but if we lose this health care reform - you think we have problems now? Just wait and see how bad it can and will be.

Republicans are only interested in keeping you afraid so you'll vote for them, and then they'll thumb their nose at you while collecting millions upon millions of dollars from special interests and the healthcare industry. Do they feel sorry for you? Absolutely not. They're making money every time one of our citizens d_i_e_s - and they will. Will it be you? Will it be someone you know? Will you be demeaned in a public forum for having a disability and being told by some fellow citizen why should they have to pay for your healthcare. That is the truth, ladies and gentlemen. Believe it or not, but if you have nothing, you're worth nothing to them. They are the HAVES and we are the HAVE NOTS. And they aim to keep it that way. Make no mistake.

[beanchihuahua]

Wisconsin Disctrict 1-=how did both Obama and Paul Ryan both win in this district? We need a viable Democratic candidate here for 2010..I know that a lot of you are into other things. I have noticed that when I got to Woodman's and it looks like a scene from Wall-E..That there are more people at a Golden Corral buffet than the YMCA on any given day, but this politcal thing--it pertains to all of us!!

[neuroburger]

the charge may indeed be "galling to the party that launched Medicare" but has not been refuted by Ryan Grim OR the DNC

the fact of the matter is that the Wall Street Corporatocracy that RUNS this country SELECTED OBanker precisely because it was necessary to have a DEMOCRAT - a supposed "friend" of the "little guy" - do the dirty work of the corporatists that, had a REPUBLICAN tried - would bring out the "left" "progressives" in droves.

medicare advantage offers senior citizens COMPREHENSIVE coverage unlike the Fee For Service plan that actually PENALIZES senior citizens for having the temerity to dare to visit the doctor.

slashing medicare in order to "reform" health care in this country is a bad idea. it's like burning down the house in order to "clean" it

[NobodylikesHim]

Part D needs to be regulated more, and the Medicare Advantage needs price caps on it's premiums. Most seniors pay MORE in premiums for the Medicare Advantage, than they do for Medicare itself!

Thank you GWB and the Republican Congress!!

[homenurse61]

What Medicare Advantage plan are you talking about? Some plan on the moon? I work for an insurance company that administers a Medicare Advantage plan and people are much better off without it than with it! And that goes for all of them since they work basically the same way. You are barred from some major hospitals because they don't particpate in the Advantage plan, same for MD's, labs, nursing homes etc AND they, the insurance people, will tell you it's time to go home when your deemed "no longer making progress", weather you are ready to leave or not! I would be surprised if you had a Medicare Advantage plan or had ever tried to use it because if you had, you would know that your statment is as far from the truth as it can get.

[NEWSWOMAN]

Why does a hearing aide cost $4000? Why does a de-fibrillator cost $75,000? Why does a pace maker cost $60,000? And you think the insurance companies aren't going to fight for their lives to keep the present system??

[empiricalWeb]

none of those things costs anywhere near those prices...

[homenurse61]

Have you looked at a hospital bill? I have one for an ER visit for 10,000 dollars!

[MarsAmbassador]

Reagan screwed this country, so they need to screw Reagan to the wall. These old people worship him like he was the savior of our country. He started us on the mess we're in now and these old people need to hear things in ads like him talking about the evils of Medicare and basically everything they now take for granted.

"The real incomes of the top .01 percent of Americans rose sevenfold between 1980 and 2007. But the real income of the median family rose only 22 percent, less than a third its growth over the previous 27 years. Moreover, most of whatever gains ordinary Americans achieved came during the Clinton years. President George W. Bush, who had the distinction of being the first Reaganite president to also have a fully Republican Congress, also had the distinction of presiding over the first administration since Herbert Hoover in which the typical family failed to see any significant income gains." http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/opinion/24krugman.html

[neuroburger]

"I do think that for example the 1980 was different. I think Ronald Reagan changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it. I think they felt like with all the excesses of the 1960s and 1970s and government had grown and grown but there wasn't much sense of accountability in terms of how it was operating. I think people, he just tapped into what people were already feeling, which was we want clarity we want optimism, we want a return to that sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

Barack H. Obama
January 13, 2008
http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3263