Dems Warn Constituents About the Evils of RyanCare

[n2doc]

By Suzy Khimm| Fri Apr. 22, 2011 3:01 AM PDT

Back in their home districts for the Easter recess, some House Democrats have put the GOP overhaul of Medicare front and center with their constituents. On Wednesday night, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) asked all the callers participating in a telephone town hall to vote on whether they supported the GOP Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to replace Medicare "with a voucher system to help seniors defray the cost of health insurance." Of some 1,300 callers who responded, the choice seemed overwhelming: 73 percent wanted to keep Medicare as is, while only 27 supported the GOP overhaul.

The informal telephone poll falls in line with a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll that found that 65 percent of Americans oppose the Ryan plan for Medicare. That number that jumped to 84 percent when respondents were told that the cost of private insurance is supposed to outpace the cost of Medicare insurance, weakening the value of the "premium support" that recipients would receive under Ryan’s plan.

Throughout the call, Connolly hit upon the main talking points that Democrats have been using to assault RyanCare, calling the plan a "radical proposal" that would force seniors out of Medicare and into the private market. "I’m going to fight tooth and nail...to make sure we preserve Medicare, and we don't adopt the Ryan proposal which would dismantle it as we know it." To be sure, Connolly's district is also one that’s more likely to be sympathetic to such arguments: the 11th district is just north of Washington, DC, heavily populated by federal employees and contractors, and swung for Connolly by more than over 10 points in 2010. But it's a message that's beginning to hit the airwaves in Democratic attack ads—and that other Democratic members, like Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), are pushing in their home districts this week.

Connolly also swatted down an emerging counterargument to the Democratic attack on the Ryan plan. During the town hall, one participant a year away from retirement criticized the Connolly for misrepresenting the Republican plan. The public might get "the impression that you’re talking about me losing my Medicare coverage this year," the caller said. "The proposal doesn’t kick in for that sort of thing for 10 years." It's the same reason that PolitiFact attempted to discredit a new Democratic attack ad that portrays seniors being forced to work (and, in some cases, work it) to pay for Medicare. "Ryan’s plan leaves Medicare as is for people 55 and older…all seniors would continue to be offered coverage under the proposal," Politifact writes.

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http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/04/democrats-attack-ryan-plan-medicare

As if people under 55 won't age...sheesh, even birthers aren't that stupid.

[dana_b]

1. yeah - to hell with the rest of us

I guess some of these people don't have kids/grandkids.

[dkf]

2. Give us a solution then dammit.

At least he is doing us the service of bringing up the cause of our future insolvency.

And show us you can manage money because if you can't do that you have no case to make that you can manage single payer.

[n2doc]

4. No He Isn't

And you know it.

[jtown1123]

5. Medicare is expensive largely due to the private components of the MMA (R idea)

Let Part D negotiate for drugs like the VA (which gets a 40% discount) and it it out of the hands of private insurers, allow 55+ to buy into Medicare, heck why not Medicare for all?

Medicare is expensive because health care in the U.S. is insanely expensive. Medicare is more efficient than private insurance anyways.

[Scuba]

7. Medicare for All would solve the problem on a myriad of levels....

...no uninsured

...no billing / reimbursement nightmares for physicians, hospitals or patients

...no extra cost built into the cost of every car, computer and other widget we build

.

[jtown1123]

8. Less administrative and billing costs, more efficient, there's your solution

[Scuba]

10. No stockholders to pay. The fact that they get a cut of our healthcare dollars just irks me.

[county worker]

6. I'm not sure what you are talking about but here is a solution.

If Medicare was the payer of choice for the majority of Americans it could dictate the prices it pays for anything.

Also the more people are in a plan like Medicare the more the costs are paid by those who don't need the coverage at a young age.

The problem you won't recognize is you include the insurance industry as a given!

[white_wolf]

12. Everything you post is right-wing talking points.

Any a rightwinger would defend this horrible plan.

[MedleyMisty]

3. Narcissists tend to see life as frozen

They don't understand change or thinking about the future. They're just staring at an unchanging reflection of themselves.

So they might not consciously think it, but somewhere in their psyche they do actually think that people won't age.

[OHdem10]

9. Seniors have never bought this 55 and older being secure.

Cut the rest out of Medicare. Who is contributing???
They will continuously cut Medicare for the supposedly
"secure 55 and olders".

Worst time in the world for the parties to jerk the
safety net from the shaking hands of financeially
insecure Americans.

They should be provideing jobs and building the country
up in order for people not to be so fearful about their
future financial future.

[mfcorey1]

11. Ryancare!!!! lol I am going to use this everytime I talk to a rightwinger. nt

[keroro gunsou]

13. or...

ryancareless.