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Politico...
Medicare criticism
may haunt GOP
By Carrie Budoff Brown
3/8/11
The Republican Party and its allies funneled millions into TV ads last
year accusing Democrats from Pennsylvania to Missouri of “gutting
Medicare” and “hurting seniors” — charges that compelled older voters
to swing en masse toward the GOP.
But now, as Republicans move to tackle the country’s gaping debt, they
are weighing changes to Medicare — from higher premiums to spending
caps — that open them to the same attacks they leveled only months ago
against Democrats over the health care law.
And Democrats haven’t forgotten it.
“I can imagine a lot of frustration from the president that when he
chose to do Medicare savings that will be less impactful, these guys
viciously attacked him for rationing health care and hurting seniors,”
said Neera Tanden, a former administration aide who worked on the
health care law and chief operating officer of the Center for American
Progress. “At the end of the day, there is a [campaign] battle plan for
attacking Medicare savings, and it was written by Republicans.”
Republican leaders vow to begin taming entitlement programs this year.
Beyond declarations that “everything is on the table,” details are
scarce on what House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan will include
in his upcoming budget and what a bipartisan Senate group is
considering for a deficit reduction package. But several high-profile
reports on the debt recommended changes to Medicare that could force
hundreds of billions in cuts from the system beyond the $500 billion
supported by Democrats in the health care law.
Republicans face unsavory options on Medicare: Retreat from their
fiscal promises and push only superficial tweaks; tackle it with a
massive overhaul such as vouchers that can be framed as something other
than cuts; or enact politically treacherous cuts and higher premiums
that invite the same attacks that played so well against Democrats last
year.
Whatever the details, a position that worked to the GOP’s advantage
last year puts them in a bind this time around.
It’s yet another political trap in the bid to rein in the long-term
debt, an undertaking that could include benefit reductions to Medicare,
Medicaid and Social Security, tax increases, an overhaul of the tax
code and cuts to defense and discretionary spending. But the fight over
Medicare is particularly fraught because it bears the raw scars of the
two-year debate over health care reform, wounds that bleed into the
already delicate talks on the debt.
“I can guarantee you that our organization will be talking about it,”
said Maria Freese, director of government relations and policy for the
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare. “They have
themselves in a bit of a box.”
The bipartisan Senate deficit-reduction group is working from reports
issued by two key groups, according to sources: the White House fiscal
commission and a Bipartisan Policy Center task force led by Democratic
economist Alice Rivlin and former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.). Between
the groups, there were recommendations to increase cost-sharing, reduce
payments to hospitals and transition to a system that charges higher
premiums if costs rise faster than established limits.
But Republicans caution that few, if any, members are openly calling
for cuts to the universal health care program for senior citizens.
“I don’t think anyone has a desire to cut Medicare, but there are ways
of streamlining it to be more efficient,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch
(R-Utah), the ranking member on the Finance Committee, which oversees
the program.
“There is an awful lot of waste, an awful lot of fraud, an awful lot of
over-prescribing and over-providing. Sooner or later, we’ve got to get
to all those things. I think you could find billions and billions of
dollars.”
Read the full story at Politico
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