The latest Democratic salvo in the debate over Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to remake Medicare is as wrong as the previous ones lobbed by the GOP and the Democrats. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) is running a petition on its website that claims the “radical GOP has not given up on its drive to kill Medicare,”
The Washington Post reports.
“Now, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is trying to tie the debt-ceiling vote to ending Medicare,” the petition reads.
“He’s willing to let the United States default on its obligations — putting our economy in peril — to take needed healthcare coverage away from our seniors. McConnell’s approach is unconscionable,” the petition continues.
In a fact check, the Post calls the assertions “strong, take-no-prisoner stuff.” The Post termed the charges “overheated” and said Republicans were correct that the “core of Medicare — government-run healthcare for the elderly — would remain unaffected for people over 55 for many years to come.”
The Post also said that McConnell has essentially conceded the Ryan plan is a nonstarter in the debt-ceiling negotiations.
“In every case, the DSCC has pushed its rhetoric to the breaking point, just as the National Republican Campaign Committee did in its (recent) television ad. There’s certainly a worthwhile debate about whether the Medicare changes proposed by Ryan would help or hurt Medicare, and whether too much of a burden would be shifted to beneficiaries.
"But it is not true to claim Republicans are trying to ‘kill’ Medicare, that their plans would affect all seniors immediately, and that acceptance of only this plan is the price Obama must pay to win a debt-ceiling increase,” the Post concluded.
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