Dems target House Repubs on Medicare
A new Republican budget proposal, courtesy of Paul Ryan, is on the way, and Democrats are already daring GOP House members to support its expected Medicare changes.
Dems target House Repubs on Medicare
Thomas Fitzgerald, Inquirer Politics Writer
It’s back! Hide grandma and grandpa.
U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, plans to unveil his latest proposed federal budget Tuesday in Washington, and he has said the document will not back down from last year’s controversial plan to convert Medicare health coverage for senior citizens into a voucher-based program.
Already, the campaign arm of the congressional Democrats has launched a preemptive strike against 41 House Republicans in competitive districts across the nation, including five in Pennsylvania and one in New Jersey.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is targeting robocalls in the districts of Republican who supported Ryan’s budget last year and its proposed changes to Medicare; the bill passed the House and died in the Senate. Among those under the microscope: Reps. Jim Gerlach (PA 6); Pat Meehan (PA 7); Mike Fitzpatrick (PA 8); Charlie Dent (PA 15); Tim Murphy (PA 18) and Jon Runyan (NJ 03).
“Republicans have made their priorities crystal clear, once again, DCCC Chairman Rep. Steve Israel of New York said in a statement. “We will go district by district to hold Republicans accountable for their reckless and relentless efforts to balance the budget on the backs of seniors.”
Republicans who supported the Ryan budget were dinged up last year and the issue, particularly the Medicare proposals, no doubt contributed to a decline in job approval ratings for Congress as a whole and the GOP House majority.
The idea of a two-tiered system to pay for Medicare remains broadly unpopular. A Kaiser Health Tracking Poll in February found that 70 percent of Americans favor keeping Medicare “as it is,” including 53 percent of those who identify themselves as Republicans. (Kaiser did, however, find some receptivity to the idea that Medicare’s fiscal future is at risk without program changes.)
Ryan has been working in a bipartisan Medicare proposal with Sen. Ron Wyden (D.,Ore.) which will likely tweak the 2011 proposal, though the principle of using “premium support” – federal subsidies to purchase private health insurance – for future beneficiaries is expected to be part of the package.
DCCC is using robocalls that will patch the caller through to their district’s member of Congress. The money quote: “Republicans in Washington have a new budget that chooses millionaires over Medicare. One independent analysis found that the plan would “shift substantial costs to beneficiaries” and “lead to the demise of traditional Medicare.”
In Pennsylvania, Democratic challengers Manan Trivedi, a Reading physician, in the Sixth District and Kathy Boockvar, who is running in the Bucks-County based Eighth District, have already begun using the issue against Gerlach and Fitzpatrick, respectively.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is getting into the act as well, circulating an online petition urging that the pack of GOPers running to challenge Sen. Bob Casey (D.,Pa.) promise to keep their hands off Medicare.
Though Medicare clearly will serve as a bludgeon for the GOP in the 2012 elections, Democrats have not advanced specific proposals of their own to deal with the looming insolvency of Medicare.The Social Security trustees say that Medicare will run out of funds in 2024 because of the rapid aging of the U.S. population and increasing health-care costs, unless changes are made in financing the system or benefit payments.
Watch this space to see how Gerlach, Fitzpatrick, Dent, Murphy and Runyan respond to the issue.
"DCCC is using robocalls that will patch the caller through to their district’s member of Congress." --- If they somehow manage to get through the no-call list block I will file a complaint.— psyrus- "The Social Security trustees say that Medicare will run out of funds in 2024 because of the rapid aging of the U.S. population and increasing health-care costs, unless changes are made in financing the system or benefit payments." It is time for the Democrats to fess up to this enormous problem and stop using scare tactics for political gain. It is not fair to place the excessive financial burden of our entitlement programs on our kids and grandkids.
— glenside_bill - Right, because Republicans, god bless 'em, wouldn't dream of using scare tactics for policitcal gain.
— 1980 - Democrats fighting tooth and nail to preserve their trajectory toward national insolvency.— Mr. Smith
When the wealthy like Romney pay their fair share of taxes, there will be more money to add to Medicare— ej610- As long as health care is left in the hands of two groups - providers and insurers - who are permitted to write all the rules, set all the prices and get rich in the process, this system will just continue to spin out of control. Whenever a private, for-profit health insurance carrier is given the choice between the health of its subscribers and the health of its bottom line, the shareholders and their board will make sure that profit is the only consideration. As long as providers and pharmaceutical companies are allowed - I should say encouraged - to manipulate the system for gain, they will do so. That's why the first 2 responses to every health issue are expensive diagnostic testing and expensive drugs. It's insane that we support an industry that makes trillions off of our illnesses and injuries.— 1980
- And we are still waiting for REAL reform for the healthcare industry. Obamacare isn't meant as reform. Its main purpose was to give healthcare away at the tax-payers expense. Another entitlement for the tax-consumers of the country. — psyrus
- You should try getting some of your information from someone other Sean Hannity. Contrary to what he's pounded into your helpless skull, the Public Option is NOT welfare, it's not Medicare, it's not "Healthcare at the taxpayers' expense". It's a program that is intended to compete with BC/BS, USHC and all the other health insurance pirates by offering a plan in which the providers agree to cost-containment in order to be paid. You don't "get" Public Option coverage, you buy it. — 1980
- Unfortunately the solution is not to dissolve Medicare but to further strengthen it. How that is done is what Congress should be working on. Try getting health insurancer when you're 75 with multiple health issues.— chasing history
- This comment has been deleted. — stonewall jackson
- Wwhich Ryan wants to eliminate for those under 55 and replace with an Obamacare voucher system. — chasing history
- This comment has been deleted.— stonewall jackson
- No, the Regressive Party actually realizes the urgent need to ELIMINATE the social safety net (not reform it) in order to maximize profit. Your screen name is appropriate for a couple of reasons. First, you apparently have some hero worship for a man who was a traitor and oathbreaker, a sworn enemy of the USA and its Constitution, and a devoted supporter of slavery. Second, if the Regressives get their way, you stand a good chance of falling victim to friendly fire, just like Jackson. Or, maybe you're just the mouthy idiot you seem to be. — 1980
- The true solution is somewhere in the middle ground. A place we will never get because the Dems (the original party of 'No') are ignorantly trying to eliminate the middle class with their tax and spend mentality. Maybe if we had a real president instead of a community organizer we would have made progress in the past couple of years. Instead, its just more of the same. — psyrus
- Yeah, we need a real president like a failed oil/baseball executive or a B-movie star. I wish I could see the look on your face when you ask Romney to stand up for the middle class and he looks at you like the piece of annoying dog waste he truly thinks you are. — 1980
- This comment has been deleted. — stonewall jackson
- What exactly is he supposed to do when House Regressives make it clear that their answer to anything - ANYTHING - he sends them is "No"? They make no secret about their preference for allowing government to grind to a complete halt rather than allow a Democratic administration to push the nation forward. — 1980
- Maybe if the professional politicians stop worrying about the getting elected and fix the problem we would be better off. The democrats haven't passed a budget since 08 but critize everything else.— skills
- I'm done with you dittoheads. Have yourselves a splendid, gun-totin', bible-thumpin', gotta-go-to-the-ER-'cause-I-can't-afford-health-insurance day.— 1980
- On the one hand you have your lemming idiots marching in blinded lockstep with the talking heads on MSNBC (same goes for those blindly following the Fox talking heads), and on the other you have those who want to discuss/find solutions in good faith. Demonizing and name calling helps nothing. With 1980 dropping off, maybe we can now have a productive dialogue.— glenside_bill
- So Republicans are supporting an Obamacare voucher type system for people to purchase their own healthcare? Why choose people 55 and under? Why note 65 or 75 and under or are they afraid?— The Fundamentals of the Economy are Fine
- Great job there, glenside bill. You certainly laid out the issues and solutions in a clear, thorough manner. And most impressive of all, you did it without any demonizing or name-calling, especially the part about the "idiots" and "talking heads". Here's some more productive dialogue for you: you're a hypocritical cretin.— 1980
- More LW Dem lies and hot air; they are going to phone robo calls to people as to what Paul Ryan is doing to hurt Medicare. Why don't they do robo calls to people that tell people the truth that it was the Dems themselves who cut Medicare by 50% in order to fund Obamacare, while at the same time; increasing Medicare's list of covered patients(ie. the chronic uninsured) by millions to cover these patients by Obamacare. Wonder if the Dems would do this? Of course they won't! Hey GOP; want a good idea for a robocall script? Try this one!— bust6711
You can reach Tom Fitzgerald at 215-854-2718 or tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
Reach Thomas at tfitzgerald@phillynews.com.
