Mitt Romney Tells a Huge Lie About Medicare & Social Security

Mitt Romney has lied day after day on the campaign trail, but yesterday he topped himself when he pledged to preserve Medicare and Social Security at an event in the Sunshine State. The truth is exactly the opposite: Mitt Romney and the Republicans want to eliminate Medicare and Social Security as we know them and hand them over to Wall Street with a reckless privatization scheme.

Romney is a staunch supporter of Congressman Paul Ryan's radical budget plan to end Medicare and Medicaid and dramatically increase health care costs for seniors struggling to make ends meet. Ryan wants to put Medicare beneficiaries at the mercy of profit-mad private health insurance companies and force seniors to fork over at least $6,400 more per year on health care while letting billionaires and corporations skip out on their taxes. Romney and the Republicans want to strip seniors of new drug benefits and preventive care provided by the Affordable Care Act.

Ryan's recent partnership with Senator Ron Wyden doesn't soften the blow any. It's the same bad plan with a twist and a lone Democratic supporter. Shame on Romney for lying to Florida seniors as he cheers on Ryan's plan to take away their health care and retirement security.

In their obsession to repeal "Obamacare," the Republican presidential candidates are committed to taking away dozens of consumer protections and benefits that are already making a huge difference in people's lives.

The Republicans' Medicare privatization plan is part of the GOP's larger attack on our country's shrinking middle class and the promise of the American Dream: that if you work hard and play by the rules you can have a good job with good wages and benefits, provide a better life for your children and retire with dignity.

As has been widely documented, Romney has an aversion to the truth and a problem keeping track of his own flip-flops. His lies about Medicare and Social Security are just the latest examples. There's only one true and consistent thing to be said about Mitt Romney: he's the ultimate candidate of the Wall Street profiteers who are so intent on making excessive amounts of money that they're happy to wreck our economy and destroy the lives of millions of America's families to get what they want.

 

Comments

[aburch9351]

12:52 PM on 02/03/2012

S,S, should be left ALONE and the candidates running dem or rep SHOULD put this in writeing to this effect then we the voteing SRS & YES we do VOTE WILL SUPPORT THEM simple huh.

[Royce09]

07:37 AM on 02/02/2012

Mitt Romney's downfall will be him mistakenly thinking the public is as stupid as he is and will actually vote for him in his run against OBMA. The less evil of the two crooks will prevail.

[Javalation]

11:04 PM on 01/31/2012

Just more fodder for Obama to use against Rmoney in one of their "debates". It's like he thinks he's so rich he can get away with this because voters aren't bright enough to realize his deceit, because as we all know, only the rich have a brain..

[MinnesotaGrandma]

06:53 PM on 01/31/2012

I also watched the Romney speech where he says in a loud and commanding voice that he will protect Medicare and Social Security...except he didn't say that. What he said in a loud voice was that he will fight to protect Medicare and Social Security (voice drop ) for anyone on it now and anyone 55 years and older. Hence, the Ryan Plan.

[SisterAnn]

05:51 PM on 01/31/2012

I agree with what you say, but it would be nice if both the left and right candidates were making nice promises about Social Security and Medicare.

That is what I call a compromise.

[DennisByron]

05:45 PM on 01/31/2012

I won't call the author of this blog post a liar because I doubt he intentionally lied about Medicare. He is probably way below Medicare age and simply does not realize how bad Medicare is. Original Medicare or "Medicare as we know it" as it affectionately known by people who write and say things like this blogger has lifetime limits, high co-pays and deductibles, no vision/dental/annual-physical/drug benefits and geographic restrictions. Luckily 78% of us seniors have chosen private insurers to make up for all the faults in Original Medicare and 14% of us unfortunately qualify for Medicaid that makes up the difference. I have no idea why the other 8% choose not to supplement "Medicare as we know it."

The blogger does not understand that the CBO estimate that seniors would have "to fork over at least $6,400 more per year on health care" made the false assumption that some clueless insurer would sell and some clueless senior would buy the equivalent of this terrible insurance. As unlikely as that would be but -- listening to the complaints and Senator Wyden -- the current voucher plan was revised so that someone could do that if they so choose (and as the statistics show, about 8% of us seniors inexplicably make that choice). It's a free country.

The rest of this blog post is about stuff that does not apply to seniors but I would guess that it is equally ignorant of the relevant facts.

[avoidspam]

06:57 PM on 01/31/2012

Thank you for shedding light. It always seems like every negative ad or blog against Romney is one of three news outlets. This is one of them.

[ljb860ljb]

11:08 AM on 02/04/2012

I have no idea why the other 8% choose not to supplement "Medicare as we know it." ----- Well this 8%er just can't see spending money they could be using for other things.... I already spend $100+ per month and receive nothing in return, in my case it is insurance only. I spend maybe $250 per year on medications period so why pay extra for Part D or extra for an Advantage plan? If a time comes I need it then I may choose to obtain until then I'll use the funds other ways.

[demisfine]

05:32 PM on 01/31/2012

I have written to Senator Wyden to express my disappointment in his support of the Ryan Plan, and to promise to support whichever democrat challenges him in his re-election effort.
Bad mistake on his part.

[Semprini]

06:09 PM on 01/31/2012

Excellent. I hope Wyden smartens up...