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Will Democrats Bring Their 2011 Mediscare Lie Into 2012?

December 30, 2011

Lacking Excuses For Their Failed Policies, Democrats Plot to Continue Their Shameful Mediscare Playbook Despite “Lie of the Year” from Politifact

 

  • The Democrats’ plan to Mediscare their way back into the House majority was dealt yet another blow recently when Politifact announced that the Democrats’ fact-deficient Medicare scare tactics were the biggest lie of 2011.
  • It’s unfortunate that Democrats have chosen a strategy of dishonesty and scare-mongering while Medicare is poised to go bankrupt in 2024. All Democrats have offered to address the potential bankruptcy of Medicare is $500 billion in Medicare cuts and a plan to empower a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to cut Medicare, threatening seniors’ access to care in the process.
  • Democrats may not have much else to run on in the election year with their Mediscare playbook torn to shreds. With no other way to defend their failed policies, will Democrats be desperate enough to bring the lie of 2011 into 2012?

 

BACKGROUND

 

The Democrats’ plan to Mediscare their way back into the House majority was dealt yet another blow recently when Politifact announced that the Democrats’ fact-deficient Medicare scare tactics were the biggest lie of 2011:

 

“LIE OF THE YEAR: ‘REPUBLICANS VOTED TO END MEDICARE'”: (Bill Adair and Angie Drobic Holan, “Lie of the Year: ‘Republicans Voted to End Medicare,'” Politifact.com, 12/20/2011)

 

DEMOCRATS’ MEDISCARE CLAIMS RATED AS “FALSE” OR “PANTS ON FIRE” NINE TIMES THIS YEAR:(Bill Adair and Angie Drobic Holan, “Lie of the Year: ‘Republicans Voted to End Medicare,'” Politifact.com, 12/20/2011)

 

SADLY, DEMOCRATS HAVE A LONG HISTORY OF SHAMELESSLY DEMAGOGUING MEDICARE:“Kathleen Hall Jamieson, an expert on campaign advertising who directs the Annenberg center at the University of Pennsylvania, says Democrats have been using falsehoods and exaggerations about Medicare and Social Security since at least 1952. She calls it the longest-running ‘Democratic deception.’ … It is a scare tactic that works.” (Bill Adair and Angie Drobic Holan, “Lie of the Year: ‘Republicans Voted to End Medicare,'” Politifact.com, 12/20/2011)

 

It’s unfortunate that Democrats have chosen a strategy of dishonesty and scare-mongering while Medicare is poised to go bankrupt in 2024. All Democrats have offered to address the potential bankruptcy of Medicare is $500 billion in Medicare cuts and a plan to empower a board of unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats to cut Medicare, threatening seniors’ access to care in the process:

 

MEDICARE WILL GO BANKRUPT IN 2024, FIVE YEARS EARLIER THAN FORECAST LAST YEAR:“Medicare’s trust fund will run dry in 2024, five years earlier than forecast just last year, and Social Security’s will be exhaused by 2036, adding fuel to the debate over cutting one or both programs to reduce annual budget deficits.” (Richard Wolf, “Medicare, Social Security Money Running Out Faster,” USA Today, 5/13/2011)

 

DEMOCRAT PLAN MEANS AN “IMMEDIATE 17-PERCENT REDUCTION” IN BENEFITS OR “IMMEDIATE 24-PERCENT INCREASE” IN TAXES: “The long-range financial imbalance could be addressed in several different ways. In theory, the standard 2.90-percent payroll tax and the additional tax 0.9-percent tax on high-income earners could be immediately increased by the amount of the actuarial deficit to 3.69 percent, or expenditures could be reduced by a corresponding amount. Note, however, that these changes would require an immediate 24-percent increase in the tax rate or an immediate 17-percent reduction in expenditures.” (pp. 28-29, “2011 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds,” The Boards of Trustees of the Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds, 5/13/2011)

 

AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ACTUARIES: BENEFIT CUTS COULD BE EVEN HIGHER: “The projected HI deficit over the next 75 years is 0.79 percent of taxable payroll. Eliminating this deficit would require an immediate 24 percent increase in payroll taxes or an immediate 17 percent reduction in benefits—or some combination of the two. Delaying action would require more drastic tax increases or benefit reductions in the future.” (“Medicare’s Financial Condition: Beyond Actuarial Balance,” American Academy of Actuaries, May 2011)

 

“SIGNIFICANT REASONS TO BELIEVE THAT ACTUAL COSTS WILL BE HIGHER IN PRACTICE THAN PROJECTED”: “In a nutshell, Medicare cost projections are highly uncertain and there are significant reasons to believe that actual costs will be higher in practice than projected in the 2011 report, as the report itself notes in several places.” (Testimony from Charles P. Blahous, Committee On Ways & Means, U.S. House Of Representatives, 6/22/2011)

 

DEMOCRATS’ PLAN FOR CUTTING MEDICARE, THREATENING SENIORS’ ACCESS TO CARE:

 

PELOSI ADMITS “WE TOOK A HALF A TRILLION DOLLARS OUT OF MEDICARE” WITH GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: “You don’t have to have cuts in those initiatives in order to reduce cost there, and we have proven that we’re willing to make cuts in the cost to initiatives. We took a half a trillion dollars out of Medicare in the Affordable Care Act, the health care bill, already, and there’s certainly more opportunities for savings in that respect.” (Remarks from Nancy Pelosi, CNBC’s “Closing Bell”, 10/29/2011)

 

OBAMA’S MEDICARE PLAN: EMPOWER “15 SAGES” WITH “THE POWER OF THE PURSE”: “Fifteen members will serve on the Independent Payment Advisory Board, all appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. If per capita costs grow by more than GDP plus 0.5%, this board would get more power, including an automatic budget sequester to enforce its rulings. So 15 sages sitting in a room with the power of the purse will evidently find ways to control Medicare spending that no one has ever thought of before and that supposedly won’t harm seniors’ care, even as the largest cohort of the baby boom generation retires and starts to collect benefits.” (Editorial Board, “The Presidential Divider,” The Wall Street Journal, 4/14/2011)

 

WSJ: OBAMA MEDICARE PLAN IS MEDICARE “RATIONING”, WILL “THROW GRANNY OVER THE CLIFF”: “One place to start is by attacking the Democratic plan to cut Medicare via political rationing. Mr. Ryan’s budget had the virtue of embarrassing President Obama’s spend-more initial budget, and the White House responded by proposing to increase the power of the new Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to decide what, and how much, Medicare will pay for. The ObamaCare bill goes to great lengths to shelter this 15-member, unelected board from Congressional review, with the goal of letting these bureaucrats throw granny over the cliff if Medicare isn’t reformed. Yet few Americans know anything about IPAB or its rationing intentions.” (Editorial, “The GOP’s New York Spanking,” The Wall Street Journal, 5/26/2011)

 

BUREAUCRAT BOARD MADE EVEN STRONGER THAN UNDER GOVERNMENT HEALTHCARE TAKEOVER: “The president, for his part, answered Ryan’s budget by proposing an even stronger version of the board than the health reform law created.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Medicare Pay Board Is Losing Vital Support,” Politico, 6/8/2011)

 

Democrats may not have much else to run on in the election year with their Mediscare playbook torn to shreds. With no other way to defend their failed policies, will Democrats be desperate enough to bring the lie of 2011 into 2012?:

 

“DCCC BRUSHES OFF LIE OF THE YEAR,” SIGNALING THEY WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD MEDICARE LIES: “DCCC BRUSHES OFF LIE OF THE YEAR — The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has been the group most aggressively pushing the claim that Republicans voted to end Medicare when they backed Paul Ryan’s budget earlier this year — the same claim that PolitiFact designated on Tuesday as their 2011 ‘Lie of the Year.’ ” (Scott Wong, Politico’s “Huddle”, 12/21/2011)

 

DCCC CHAIR STEVE ISRAEL STATED MEDICARE LIE AS RECENTLY AS TWO WEEKS AGO: ” ‘We have a mathematical advantage,’ he said. ‘They’ve got to defend 60 seats where incumbents voted to end Medicare…’ ” (Heidi Przybyla, “Israel Says Republican Payroll Tax Position Will Help Democrats,” Bloomberg, 12/15/2011)

 

FLASHBACK TO MAY 2011: DEMOCRATS CLAIMED DEAMGOGUING “MEDICARE, MEDICARE, MEDICARE” WON THEM NY-26 SPECIAL ELECTION AND THAT WAS “ONLY THE FIRST SEAT”:“Democrats immediately touted Hochul’s win as evidence of the unpopularity of Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel took to MSNBC to list their reasons for the victory – ‘Medicare, Medicare, Medicare.’ …  ‘Today, the Republican plan to end Medicare cost Republicans $3.4 million and a seat in Congress. And this is only the first seat,’ Israel said in a statement.” (Jessica Taylor, “Hochul Upsets Corwin in NY-26,” National Journal’s “Hotline on Call”, 5/24/2011)

 

DEMS WANTED TO USE NV-02 SPECIAL ELECTION TO “PROVE THE WORTH” OF MEDISCARE FOR “HOUSE AND SENATE RACES DOWN THE LINE”: “…[I]t’s pretty clear the same Democrats who are going all-in on linking Republicans to Medicare as a campaign strategy are also going all-in on Marshall to win on that argument, and prove its worth for House and Senate races down the line.”(Karoun Demirjian, “Democrats Boost Marshall Campaign to Turn Congressional District Blue,” Las Vegas Sun, 6/15/2011)

 

MORE ISRAEL: MEDISCARE TO BE “OUR NO. 1 ISSUE” IN NV-02: ” ‘For as long as Republicans continue to press to reduce or end Medicare, it will be our No. 1 issue,’ committee Chairman Steve Israel told the Sun this month.” (Karoun Demirjian, “National Issues Shape Race for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District,”Las Vegas Sun, 7/23/2011)

 

BUT DEMS’ MEDISCARE MESSAGE FAILED, VOTERS WANTED TO “SEND A MESSAGE TO OBAMA” ABOUT HIS FAILED POLICIES: “Polling conducted by Siena College shows that jobs and the economy are the top issues of the day, and Republican calls for voters to ‘send a message’ to President Barack Obama clearly have worked far better than Democratic charges that Turner and his party want to eliminate Medicare and Social Security.” (Stuart Rothenberg, “Democrats Jump the Shark in New York Special,” Roll Call, 9/13/2011)