Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is getting a little touchy of the criticism his party has been pummeled with over their plan to abolish Medicare. He
got rather snotty about it Friday.
"Democrats like to champion themselves as the defenders of Medicare, but today’s Democratic party is willing to stand idly by as Medicare goes bankrupt," Cantor said in a statement. "The latest Medicare Trustees report makes clear that the program is much closer to bankruptcy than believed even last year, and that the program is in far more trouble than the Trustees or CBO had projected."
....
"The truth is that Medicare taxes and premiums only cover a little more than half of the cost of the program, and most Americans understand that the program needs to be changed to preserve and protect it for future seniors," Cantor said. "That is why Republicans have offered a plan to guarantee benefits for seniors and those approaching retirement while ensuring that this important safety net exists for Americans under 54 years of age."
By contrast, he added, Democrats are doing "nothing to save Medicare from collapse" and "have tried to scare seniors by mischaracterizing real solutions to strengthen and save the program and using those efforts as a political weapon."
Never mind that the GOP did a fine job completely on their own of scaring seniors with their plan. Because seniors recognize that the "guarateed" benefits from the Republican voucher system are a fraction of what their medical costs will be. The CBO has analyzed their plan, and concluded that would have to pay a substantial portion of their own healthcare costs. That's not saving Medicare. It's bankrupting seniors, who are smart enough to realize that without Democrats telling them so.
As for the claim that Democrats are doing nothing to save Medicare, Cantor needs to review the Affordable Care Act, and the $120 billion the ACA saves Medicare over the next five years. But since the Republicans' primary goal is getting rid of the ACA, I guess he wasn't going to bring that up.