Let it be said for the record that the Romney campaign took the first shot:
You paid into Medicare for years, every paycheck. Now, when you need it, Obama has cut $716 billion from Medicare. Why? To pay for Obamacare. Now the money you paid for your guaranteed health care is going to a massive new government program that's not for you. The Romney-Ryan plan protects Medicare benefits for today's seniors and strengthens the plan for the next generation.
Three reasons why this ad is absurd:
- Paul Ryan supports the Medicare savings achieved by President Obama. In fact, Republicans have repeatedly voted in favor them. Ryan and Republicans do disagree about Obamacare, but they support the Medicare savings because the savings make Medicare more secure without touching benefits.
- The ad says that if you have paid into the Medicare system, you should receive "guaranteed health care," but both Romney and Ryan have proposed eliminating guaranteed Medicare coverage for Americans under the age of 55, even though they've been paying into the system their entire adult lives. Instead of Medicare, Romney and Ryan would provide vouchers to partially subsidize the cost of private insurance, breaking the promise of guaranteed health care made to people who have been paying Medicare taxes for decades.
- The ad claims the Romney-Ryan plan would protect the current system for seniors who are 55 or older. That might sound good at first, but imagine what would happen 10 years from now when people no longer have guaranteed Medicare coverage. From that point on, Medicare will shrink because it won't have new enrollees. The program will whither on the vine. To put it in simple terms: Would you want to be the last person to enroll in Medicare?
Now it's the Obama campaign's turn to fire back. And when they do, Romneyland isn't going to like it.
