Apparently Paul Ryan is already salivating at the idea of killing off Medicare as we know it.
“Well, you have to remember, when Obamacare became Obamacare, Obamacare rewrote Medicare, rewrote Medicaid. If you are going to repeal and replace Obamacare, you have to address those issues as well. What a lot of folks don't realize is this 21-person board called the IPAB is about to kick in with price controls on Medicare. What people don't realize is because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke, Medicare is going to have price controls because of Obamacare, Medicaid is in fiscal straits. You have to deal with those issues if you are going to repeal and replace Obamacare. Medicare has serious problems [because of] Obamacare. Those are part of our plan.”
This lie that Obamacare has already killed Medicare will, in due course, become a politicial truth, because that’s just how things roll in this country now. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s a lie.
I like to think this is all bluster, that Republicans wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually do it since seniors are a core part of the GOP base. But if there’s one thing this election has taught me it’s this: people just don’t care. The Republicans SHOULD have paid a price for eight years of non-stop obstruction. They didn’t. They SHOULD have paid a price for shutting down the government for no valid reason. They didn’t. They SHOULD have absolutely paid a price for violating the Constitution and not allowing a sitting president to nominate a Supreme Court justice, and they absolutely didn’t. There are no checks in place now. Republicans have learned they have carte blanche because voters either aren’t paying attention, don’t care, don’t understand what’s going on, or can be easily convinced to vote against their own best interests by playing on their irrational fears and hatreds.
It terrifies me to think about all of the progress we are going to lose in the next few years.