Unlike yesterday's diary, this one will be short. Too often, Democrats lose the battle because of poor messaging. "Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare as we know it" is rather a mouthful. I like Paul Krugman's new term: VOUCHERCARE.
The point is that you can name the new program Medicare, but it’s an entirely different program — call it Vouchercare — that would offer nothing like the coverage that the elderly now receive. (Republicans get huffy when you call their plan a voucher scheme, but that’s exactly what it is.)
Just as republicans have seized on "Obamacare" as their one-word term of derision for the Affordable Care Act, I suggest that we adopt and aggressively promote Krugman's brilliant term "Vouchercare," preceded by "Republican"--REPUBLICAN VOUCHERCARE. Or maybe GOP VOUCHERCARE.
Ryan will go apopletic, and Bohener may turn red instead of orange.
The term Obamacare seeks to taint Obama in the eyes of those opposed to the provisions of the healthcare reform act. But Paul Ryan is relatively unknown and tying the proposed plan to end Medicare only to Ryan doesn't serve any greater purpose at this point.
But tying it around the neck of the Republican establishment that supports it should have much more effective long-term results for democrats.
As Krugman explains in simple terms all Americans will be able to understand:
Medicare is a government-run insurance system that directly pays health-care providers. Vouchercare would cut checks to insurance companies instead.... If you couldn’t afford a policy adequate for your needs, even with the voucher, that would be your problem.
...
Vouchercare, by contrast, would simply hand out vouchers of a fixed size, regardless of the actual cost of insurance. And these vouchers would be grossly inadequate.
In fact, I am changing my tagline to indicate my opposition to the GOP's plan to replace Medicare with Vouchercare!