Empty Dems Order More Mediscare with a Double Side of IPAB

September 28, 2011

Dems Try to Rehash their Failed Mediscare Demagoguery to Distract From their Myriad Policy Failures

A report out yesterday suggested that Democrats plan to return to demagoguing the Medicare issue as their election strategy heading into 2012.
This new Democrat plan ignores the fact the most recent test of their Mediscare playbook in the Sep. 13 Nevada special election was a miserable failure. The Mediscare Democrat candidate was trounced by 22 points and polling showed the Republican candidate was more trusted to preserve and protect Medicare.
Oddly, Obama himself has discounted his party’s own Mediscare attacks, admitting on Monday that there are “no proposals out there that would affect folks that are about to get Social Security or Medicare.” However, Obama’s latest plan for Medicare truly is scary because it doubles down on using unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to make cuts to Medicare.

BACKGROUND

A report out yesterday suggested that Democrats plan to return to demagoguing the Medicare issue as their election strategy heading into 2012:

DÉJÀ VU? DEMOCRATS TO TRY “CHANGING THE SUBJECT TO MEDICARE” ONCE AGAIN: “Weary of getting pounded over the new health overhaul law, President Barack Obama and his party are changing the subject to Medicare.

“Obama signaled last week he’s on board with the shift. His latest debt plan for Congress omitted an increase in the Medicare eligibility age, a proposal he’d put on the table in earlier discussions with House Speaker John Boehner. Gone was the consensus-seeking compromiser as Obama threatened to veto Medicare beneficiary cuts unless Congress also raises taxes on the rich.” (Richard Alonso-Zaldivar, “Obama, Democrats Put Focus on Medicare for 2012 Elections,” Associated Press, 9/27/2011)

This new Democrat plan ignores the fact the most recent test of their Mediscare playbook in the Sep. 13 Nevada special election was a miserable failure. The Mediscare Democrat candidate was trounced by 22 points and polling showed the Republican candidate was more trusted to preserve and protect Medicare:

DCCC CHAIRMAN STEVE ISRAEL SAID MEDICARE WOULD BE “NO. 1 ISSUE” IN NV-02: (Karoun Demirjian, “National issues shape race for Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District,” Las Vegas Sun, 7/23/2011)

AFTER CLAIMING MEDICARE WOULD COST REPUBLICANS THE HOUSE: (Z. Byron Wolf, “DCCC Chair Steve Israel Says Ryan Budget, Medicare Will Cost Republicans the House,” ABC News’The Note Blog, 4/15/2011)

THAT STRATEGY FELL FLAT ON ITS FACE IN NEVADA’S 2^ND DISTRICT: “The Amodei campaign was also ready and waiting when the Marshall campaign finally launched an ad in early August focusing on Amodei’s support for House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget plan that would overhaul Medicare. … By last week, Republican polling showed more voters trusted Amodei on the Medicare issue — thanks in part to Amodei’s mother making a cameo in an ad.” (Kyle Trygstad, “Democrats Brace for Disappointment in Nevada,” Roll Call, 9/13/2011)

REPUBLICAN MARK AMODEI BEAT KATE MARSHALL’S MEDISCARE TACTICS BY 22 POINTS: (Associated Press, Accessed 9/14/2011)

SPECIAL ELECTIONS PROVEN MEDICARE DEMAGOGUERY IS HARDLY A SILVER BULLET: “‘These elections today prove that the Medicare issue doesn’t trump everything,’ said Nathan Gonzales, political editor at the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report.” (Laura Litvan, “Republicans Seek Upset in New York Election for Weiner’s U.S. House Seat,” Bloomberg, 9/13/2011)

Oddly, Obama himself has discounted his party’s own Mediscare attacks, admitting on Monday that there are “no proposals out there that would affect folks that are about to get Social Security or Medicare.” However, Obama’s latest plan for Medicare truly is scary because it doubles down on using unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats on the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) to make cuts to Medicare:

ACCIDENTAL HONESTY? OBAMA CONTRADICTS EARLIER SCARE TACTICS, ADMITS THAT “THERE ARE NO PROPOSALS OUT THERE THAT WOULD AFFECT FOLKS” ABOUT TO GET MEDICARE: “There are no proposals out there that would affect folks that are about to get Social Security and Medicare, and she’ll be qualifying — she already is starting to qualify for Medicare, and she’ll be qualifying for Social Security fairly soon.” (“Remarks by the President in Townhall with Linkedin,” The White House, 9/26/2011)

MEANWHILE, OBAMA WANTS TO BEEF UP IPAB: “The president also wants to strengthen the Independent Payment Advisory Board by reducing its growth rate target from GDP per capita plus 1 percent to plus 0.5 percent. The board, created by the health law, would have more power to consider enforcement mechanisms and value-based benefit design. The IPAB portion is likely to face strong opposition from Capitol Hill. Republicans are universally opposed to the panel, and several House Democrats have come out against it.” (Jennifer Haberkorn, “Obama Links Entitlements To Taxes,” Politico, 9/19/2011)

IPAB WOULD COME INTO ACTION EVEN EARLIER THAN PLANNED: “The plan proposes strengthening the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) — a cost-cutting panel created by healthcare reform that Republicans have said will ‘ration’ care. Obama’s proposal would allow the IPAB to kick in earlier.” (Sam Baker, “Obama Health Cuts To Spark Fights With States, GOP, Industry Groups,” The Hill’s “Health Watch,” 9/19/2011)

STRONGER IPAB COULD FORCE YET GREATER CUTS TO MEDICAL PROVIDERS, THREATENING SENIORS’ ACCESS TO CARE: “Obama also wants to give additional authority to a new agency called the Independent Payment Advisory Board, which could force further cuts for medical providers.” (“Obama’s Deficit Plan Targets Drug Companies, Hospitals And Future Medicare Beneficiaries,” Associated Press, 9/20/2011)

AND LET’S REMEMBER, MEDICARE IS ALREADY GOING BANKRUPT:

MEDICARE’S TRUST FUND 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)

24 PERCENT TAX HIKE OR 17 BENEFIT CUTS? “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)