Views On Medicare Feud: Both Sides Working Toward Cuts; If Vouchers Aren’t The Answer, What Is?
Several editorials and opinions offer new perspectives on the presidential campaign's focus on federal funding of Medicare.
Los Angeles Times: The Medicare Feud Explained: Both Sides Would Cut But GOP More
Americans who don't count themselves confused by the current debate over Medicare must be in the minority. Mitt Romney and Republican running mate Rep. Paul D. Ryan accused President Obama of hurting seniors by cutting $716 billion from the federal health program. The president retorts that the Republicans would "end Medicare as we know it." The truth is that both sides have plans that dramatically change the nearly half-century-old program (James Rainey, 8/16).
The Washington Post: The Real Medicare Question
Republicans and Democrats are being equally nasty in their campaign rhetoric, but they're not being equally truthful. To cite one example, much of what the GOP is saying about Medicare simply isn't supported by the facts (Eugene Robinson, 8/16).
The Washington Post: Taking Health-Care Reform A Step Further
If turning Medicare into a voucher program isn't the answer to controlling the program's growth, what is? This is the essential question about the federal budget. Already, health care consumes 25 percent of federal spending, of which Medicare accounts for two-thirds. ... So what's a responsible Democrat to do? As it turns out, 23 responsible Democrats — some of the left's leading thinkers in the health-care field — have just come up with a set of answers (Ruth Marcus, 8/16).
The Wall Street Journal: Why Republicans Can Win
The only candidate gutting Medicare today is Obama. The only candidate who intends to preserve Medicare for future generations is Romney (Kimberley A. Strassel, 8/16).
The Wall Street Journal: The Mediscare Boomerang
President Obama all but called Paul Ryan's Medicare reform un-American in 2011, and Democrats have since spent 16 months running their familiar Mediscare campaign. But all of a sudden liberals and their media bodyguards claim to be scandalized because Mitt Romney has the nerve to defend himself by describing Mr. Obama's own "Medicare cuts." How dare he? (8/16).
The Fiscal Times: Election 2012: Now A Referendum On Medicare
Whatever one thinks of Ryan and his budget plan, these are serious political liabilities, which is why Republican political pros think Romney's decision to put him on the ticket is a disaster. Some are now warning that Ryan is going to drag down Republican House and Senate candidates as well when Democrats begin tying them to support for his Medicare plan. Romney says he has his own plan to save Medicare, but his own web site still compared it favorable to Ryan's plan as of yesterday. Whether he likes it or not, Medicare is likely to become the primary issue in this campaign—Democrats will see to that. At a minimum, this will deflect attention from the economy, which is Romney's best issue (Bruce Bartlett, 8/17).
Modern Healthcare: Medicare Debate Clouds Announcement Of Initiative To Tour Reform Benefits
The ever-growing shadow of the Nov. 6 presidential election officially reached HHS yesterday. In a call with reporters announcing what amounts to a nationwide campaign to get pharmacies to distribute pamphlets outlining new ACA-created Medicare benefits, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took a little political detour. Following a familiar litany of the various popular provisions of the 2010 healthcare overhaul, Sebelius launched into an aggressive attack on the Medicare changes included in the last two House-passed budgets and authored by newly named Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan (Rich Daly, 8/16).