Sen. Sherrod Brown (Larry Downing/Reuters)
Greg Sargent has a letter Sen. Sherrod Brown is
circulating among Democrats, urging President Obama to take a strong stand against the Ryan Medicare voucher plan and creating a key narrative Democrats should use when talking about the Ryan/Republican plan.
Here's the bulk of the letter:
We are writing to urge you to oppose turning Medicare into a voucher system as proposed in the House Republican’s FY2012 budget. Since the enactment of Medicare in 1965, America’s seniors have no longer lived in fear of losing affordable, comprehensive health insurance when they retire. Unfortunately, some in Congress want to dismantle Medicare in order to help offset the costs of tax cuts for the very wealthiest in our country.
The House Republican budget for Fiscal Year 2012 would end Medicare as we know it and throw seniors into the private market with no more than an insufficient voucher to offset the rising cost of private health insurance. So-called “premium support” — giving seniors a voucher of approximately $8,000 as proposed by the Republican budget — is a reckless and irresponsible way to address the health care needs of older Americans. And it is an unacceptable means by which to finance tax cuts for those who are earning ten times or more than the retirement income of the average Medicare recipient. Seniors, who have paid into the system their entire working lives, deserve affordable, secure health coverage upon retirement...
Before the passage of Medicare, only half of America’s seniors had health insurance, and most of those with insurance only had coverage for inpatient hospital costs. Additionally, approximately 30 percent of seniors lived below the poverty line before Medicare. Now, only 1.8 percent lack health coverage and less than 9 percent live below the poverty line. We cannot afford to reverse these gains through the ultimate form of rationing health care for seniors: the replacement of Medicare as we know it with insufficient vouchers for private health coverage. We urge you to protect America’s seniors and oppose any attempts to dismantle Medicare. [emphasis mine]
While it's a pretty low threshold to set for changes to Medicare, since it's unlikely the administration would go as far as privatizing the program, it's the kind of messaging Obama and all the Democrats need to use when talking about the Ryan plan. It's the narrative Obama should adopt for tomorrow's speech: In privatizing Medicare, Republicans want to dismantle it.
Sargent adds "[i]t's a throwing down of the gauntlet of sorts that will hopefully garner significant support among Senate Demcrats, and suggests liberal Senators will not accept anything but a flat out rejection of the Ryan plan as a total conversation-ender."