Ending Medicare?

It did not take long for the Obamacrats to come out swinging against Paul Ryan. Obama has given him the label of a right wing ideologue. The chorus says that Ryan wants to end Medicare and that seniors ought to be afraid of him. The attack is both sad and funny. It is sad because everyone agrees that Medicare is in terrible shape and heading south. Without some sort of change, it will run out of money and fail in the not too distant future. What will seniors do then? But Obama and the Obamacrats are too worried about the election to discuss the options; they just want to use scare tactics instead. It is funny because it is demonstrably untrue. Obama and Axelrod had months to prepare for the Ryan nomination. Without a doubt, they had plans how to deal with each of the main VP contenders. But for Ryan, after all that preparation, Obama chose to go with a blatant lie. It is not even a lie that is difficult to disprove. In the past, these types of lies coming from Obama have worked because he always had a bigger audience and there was no way to answer. Now, however, Romney has been outraising the Obamacrats so he will have the means to tell American just how phony the Obama attacks are. Indeed, if Romney responds properly, these latest Obama attacks may spell doom for the Obamacrats.

The dishonesty of the attacks needs just a short explanation. First of all, the Ryan plan for Medicare is actually the Ryan-Wyden plan. It was created jointly by Ryan and senator Wyden of Oregon, a liberal Democrat. Is he too a "right wing ideologue"? Second, and more important, under the plan everyone already on Medicare and everyone over the age of 55 will get the same Medicare that is currently in place. No need for seniors to worry, their medical care will not change. Even for those under 55, the plan allows for them to choose the current conventional Medicare plan. They also get a second choice which is to buy private health insurance with a government subsidy. That subsidy is set at a level so that there will be at least two different competing plans that could be purchased at no expense to the individual. In other words, all Americans at age 65 could choose Medicare or another plan. No one would lose Medicare. There is no worry; if an individual does not want to make a change, Medicare is still there.

Americans are not idiots, no matter what the Obamacrats believe. Once they actually hear the truth about the Ryan-Wyden plan, they will understand that the Obamacrat attack is a lie. Obama will not look good once folks understand that he is intentionally lying to them just to scare the old folks.