Mitt Romney went to a white board Thursday to explain Medicare to reporters. The problem is, Romney’s white board is total baloney and the reporters knew it.
Romney’s white board had one column labeled “Obama” another “Romney.” Under each column was a line for “seniors” and another line for “next generation.”
The Romney mistruth is that under seniors, he wrote “Cuts $716 Billion,” and under Romney he wrote “No change.” On the “next generation line, under Obama he wrote “bankrupt in 2024”; under Romney he wrote “solvent indefinitely.”
Here are jus a few things that are bogus about Romney’s Medicare pitch.
First of all, what Medicare Plan is Romney pretending to explain? He put Paul Ryan on the ticket Saturday hailing Ryan’s work on Medicare. Ryan is the Republican guru on Medicare. The famous Ryan Budget, which the House passed and sent to the Senate, was called “marvelous” by Mitt Romney and in fact, he said he would sign it into law day 1.
That was Romney’s position until Sunday night on 60 Minutes. On that show, Romney began to pivot saying he was the nominee and they were running on his plan. What plan? No one has seen it. When reporters asked Romney what the differences between Ryan’s plan and his latter-day plan, Romney said he had not put them side by side to determine.
Then Ryan was asked on Fox news why they were blasting Obama for the $716 Billion budget cut when that $716 billion cut was in the Ryan Budget. Ryan answered that “Romney is the candidate and we are running on his plan.” What plan?
During the week, one Romney surrogate after another went to TV to say that the Romney plan is far different than the Ryan Plan. Of course none of them attempted to explain what the Romney Plan is. It is just “totally different.”
Under pressure from the media to explain what the Romney/Ryan Medicare plan is Mitt went Harvard. He pulled out a white board and “explained” the plans. The only thing he revealed about his plan is that Obama cuts Medicare, he doesn’t and under Obama’s plan, Medicare goes broke in 2024, under his plan it will outlast the universe.
It is not our place to ask how. He isn’t telling us until after the election. We should trust him, though.
Here is how Romney’s White Board should have looked. Since we don’t know what his secret plan is, all we can do is take the Ryan Plan and modify it with any specifics Romney has leaked out on the campaign trail.
Obama Plan (enacted)
Current seniors
Keep Medicare as we know it. The $716 billion in future savings, achieved by reducing waste and cutting payments to drug companies and hospitals which Romney and Ryan falsely call “cuts”, goes to seniors in extended benefits including:
a) Full prescription drug coverage with no deductible or co-pay.
b) Free preventative care like cancer screenings
c) Free wellness visits.
Romney/Ryan Plan (proposed)
Current seniors
Seniors have a choice to keep Medicare or get a voucher to buy insurance. Romney keeps the $716 billion in the system meaning he will not cut future waste or cut payments to drug companies and hospitals like the Obama plan. This is a wind fall for drug companies and hospitals. Here is what seniors will get:
a) No prescription coverage. The donut hole is restored. Cost to seniors $500/year.
b) No free preventative care.
c) No wellness visits.
If they choose a voucher, they will buy private insurance. It could cost seniors who choose the voucher $6,300 more a year.
Next Generation
Obama Plan
Keep Medicare
All benefits as listed above; no change
Romney Plan
Seniors will get a voucher and buy private insurance. They will lose the drug benefit under Obamacare because Romney repeals it. Seniors lose free preventative care. The out of pocket costs, above the voucher, will be about $6,300 a year. Medicare will go bankrupt sooner than 2024.
The only winners will be drug companies, hospitals, and insurance companies. Facts are pesky things.
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