Dems Respond to GOP’s “Seniors Bill of Lies”

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director Edward Coyle, AFSCME Director of Retiree Programs Steve Regenstreif and the Florida Democratic Party today responded to the lies and misinformation the GOP is spreading about seniors and health insurance reform–including RNC’s lies, which today announced a misleading ad on their “Seniors Bill of Lies.”

Since the health insurance reform debate began, the GOP has attempted to spread lies and misinformation about how health insurance reform will affect seniors.  But the truth is, President Obama’s reforms will lower costs, protect choice and provide more options.  Seniors in particular will benefit from health insurance reform as it will eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, will end wasteful subsidies to the insurance companies and close the Medicare Part D prescription drug “donut hole.”  For seniors age 50 to 64 who are not yet eligible for Medicare, the reforms proposed by President Obama will ensure that seniors who are between jobs or have a pre-existing condition cannot be denied coverage by the insurance industry.

To protect seniors and all Americans from sky-high costs and denial of coverage, President Obama recently announced eight Health Insurance Guarantees.

Under the President’s Health Insurance Guarantees, everyone will benefit, even people who currently have insurance, because any legislation he signs will include these iron clad guarantees – guarantees which will reverse years of unfair insurance company practices: 1) no discrimination for pre-existing conditions, 2) no exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles, or co-pays, 3) no cost-sharing for preventive care, 4) no dropping of coverage for the seriously ill, 5) no gender discrimination, 6) no annual or lifetime caps on coverage, 7) extended coverage for young adults, and 8) guaranteed insurance renewal.

Statements From Speakers On The Call

U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)

“The Republican Party is continuing to mislead the American people, especially our seniors, because they really have nothing else on health insurance reform… their “Seniors Bill of Lies” is another step in their never-ending quest to fan the flames of fear… The RNC’s so called “Seniors Bill of Rights” is nothing more than a scare tactic built on a foundation of lies about the effort to reform health insurance.  They’re trying to put fear in seniors’ hearts and scare them into believing that they are somehow going to lose the benefits they have now and nothing could be further from the truth… It’s clear that Republicans don’t care about reform, they just care about politics.  They’re just trying to scare seniors and have admitted that their effort is to ‘break’ the President on this issue and kill reform for political gain…Here are the facts, President Obama’s reforms will lower costs, protect patient choice and provide more options… The truth is that after failing to stop the President on the recovery act, failing to stop him on the budget, on equal pay for women and children’s health care, Republicans have decided that they have no other choice when it comes to blocking health insurance reform than to just lie, than to just make it up… Republicans have substituted scare tactics with substance and lies for the truth.”

Edward Coyle, Alliance for Retired Americans Executive Director

“There’s one thing that Michael Steele keeps leaving out of his so-called senior bill of rights and that’s the right to be told the truth. Today is yet another day in the parade of lies and fear being peddled by Steele and the Republican National Committee.  Aided and abetted by the insurance industry, this campaign tries to scare already-anxious seniors who have been repeatedly misled in this health care debate.  Older Americans have much to gain from health care reform, but you would never know it if all you did was listen to Michael Steele and Fox News.”

Steve Regenstreif, AFSCME Director of Retiree Programs

“In 1995 Newt Gingrich said even though we’d like to, we can’t get rid of Medicare in round one because we don’t think that’s politically smart, but we believe it’s going to ‘wither on the vine.’ In 2007, President Bush called for hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to both Medicare and Medicaid. So what I see now is a public campaign to mislead seniors and to pretend that Republicans are the great defenders of Medicare.  But the record proves otherwise.”

THE GOP ASSAULT ON SENIORS

REPUBLICANS, LED BY MICHAEL STEELE, HAVE LONG SOUGHT TO CUT MEDICARE

Steele Called for Dealing With “Inefficiencies, Absolutely” in Medicare. Michael Steele said, “You’ve got to look at the Medicare system as a whole and see that it’s in financial trouble. So how do you correct that? What steps? And Republicans have been arguing this for 10 years now — and they’ve gotten vilified by the Democrats in the past for even mentioning entitlement reform — so that it is more efficient, so that there are services that are promised to you, you get. And so the cost is driven down, etc. So apart from taking $500 billion out of that, how do you do that?” Asked, “Part of correcting it is to keep the idea of cuts on the table, correct?” Steele answered, “Oh yeah. You’ve got to deal with those inefficiencies, absolutely.” [ABC “Top Line” 8/31/09]

Steele Said He Favored Medicare Cuts. INSKEEP: “You would be in favor of certain Medicare cuts?” STEELE: “Absolutely, you want to maximize the efficiencies of the program.” [NPR, 8/27/09]

2006: Steele Said “Everything Has to Be On the Table” In Regards to Cuts to Medicare. Asked what federal programs he would cut, Steele said, “Seventy-eight percent of our spending is in two areas: education and health care.” When Tim Russert pointed out “Seventy percent is Social Security, Medicare and Defense,” Steele answered, Absolutely. Absolutely.” Russert: “Would you touch those?” Steele: “Abso – Tim, everything has…” Russert: “Everything’s on the table.” Steele: “Everything has to be on the table, my friend.” [NBC Meet the Press, 10/30/06]

* National Journal: Steele’s Pledge To “Protect Medicare” Might Have Been “More Convincing Had It Not Come Five Months After Nearly Four-Fifths Of House  Republicans Voted To Literally End The Program As We Know It For All Americans Younger Than 55.” “Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s pledge this week to ‘protect Medicare’ might have been more convincing had it not come five months after nearly four-fifths of House Republicans voted to literally end the program as we know it for all Americans younger than 55. They cast that vote on April 2 in support of a GOP alternative budget plan that would have converted Medicare from an open-ended entitlement that guarantees seniors virtually unlimited access to care into a voucher system that provides future retirees only a fixed sum of money to purchase private health insurance.” [National Journal, 8/28/09]
* Washington Independent: Republicans Have Suddenly Embraced “The Same Medicare System They’ve Long Tried To Privatize.” “The sentimental flip-flop, many experts argue, is hardly accidental. Faced with sweeping Democratic proposals that include the creation of a public insurance plan and the broad expansion of Medicaid to subsidize millions of uninsured Americans, Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to kill the legislation. Their tactics have ranged from the wholly absurd – like claims that the Obama administration hopes to promote abortion and euthanasia – to the simply uncharacteristic, like the sudden embrace of the same Medicare system they’ve long tried to privatize. The scare tactics have resonated with seniors, who oppose the reforms more than any other group. But the opposition strategy also puts Republicans in the odd position of blasting away at the public plan at the same time that they’re adamantly defending the virtues of Medicare, the working definition of government-backed health care. In the eyes of many experts, the strategy is sign that GOP leaders will say anything to defeat the legislation. Alluding to the trillions of dollars of deficit spending run up by Republican leaders this decade, Henry Aaron, health policy expert at the Brookings Institution, seemed to find the change of heart amusing. ‘They do not want to do anything now that would raise the deficit and they do not want to cut spending because that would deny someone something (even though there is considerable waste),’ Aaron said in an email. ‘But they claim to be all in favor of health reform. Go figure!’ ‘As far as economic probity is concerned,’ Aaron added, ‘no one has ever accused the Republican leadership of consistency.’ Julian Zelizer, political scientist at Princeton University, pointed to a similar explanation. ‘It’s just politics – politics and hypocrisy,’ he said. ‘It can scare seniors against Obama’s plan.'” [Washington Independent, 8/17/09]

THE 2009 GOP BUDGET PROPOSAL GUTTED MEDICARE…

AP: The Republican Budget Would “End Medicare As It Is Presently Known.” “For their part, House Republicans are offering an alternative that eventually would end Medicare as it is presently known.” [AP, 4/1/09]

The GOP Budget Would Gut Medicare And Replace The Benefit With A Reduced Health Care Subsidy.According to the AP, “On Medicare, workers under the age of 55 would enroll in private plans and receive premium subsidies equal to the average Medicare benefit when they retire. Benefits would not be changed for people in the program or people 55 or older.” According to Rep. Paul Ryan, “We preserve the existing Medicare program for all those 55 or older; and then, to make the program sustainable and dependable, those 54 and younger will enter a Medicare program reformed to work like the health plan members of Congress and federal employees now enjoy. Starting in 2021, seniors would receive a premium support payment equal to 100% of the Medicare benefit on average. This would be income related, so low-income seniors receive extra support, and high-income seniors receive support relative to their incomes — along the same lines as the president’s Medicare Part D proposal.” [AP, 4/1/09; Rep. Paul Ryan op-ed, WSJ, 4/1/09]

The GOP Budget “Contemplates Major Cuts To Medicare.” “But the Republican alternative budget doesn’t drastically cut spending for most programs, rather freezing it in place through 2014. It rescinds some of the stimulus spending and contemplates major cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. ‘What they’re proposing [with regard to Medicare and Medicaid] far exceeds anything that’s ever been accomplished before and would require deep eviscerating cuts, maybe even voucherizing the Medicare program,’ said Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the lead author of the Democratic budget.” [Huffington Post, 4/1/09]

...AND SOUGHT TO CUT SOCIAL SECURITY PAYMENTS

The GOP Budget Would Means Test Future Social Security Benefits. The GOP budget would “establish a means test for future Social Security benefits (potentially reducing payments to wealthier Americans).” [Wall Street Journal, 4/1/09]

REPUBLICAN LEADERS PRAISED BUSH’S PROPOSED MEDICARE CUTS

Rep. Ryan Praised President Bush’s Budget That Proposed Cuts To Medicare. “The President’s budget achieves the important goal of balancing the budget in the near term – without raising taxes – through fiscal policies that promote economic growth, and limit federal spending to realistic levels. The President’s budget also recognizes that our nation’s challenges go well beyond the next few years. This budget takes a significant, critical step toward addressing the greatest threat to our nation’s future strength and prosperity — the unsustainable growth of our largest entitlement programs. While acknowledging it doesn’t ‘fix’ the entitlement problem in one fell swoop, this budget proposes reforms that would reduce Medicare’s long-term unfunded liability by nearly one third.” According to the New York Times, Bush’s budget called “for large cuts in the growth of Medicare, far exceeding what he proposed last year, and he will again seek major savings in Medicaid, according to administration officials and budget documents.” [Rep. Paul Ryan release, 2/4/08; New York Times, 1/31/08]

Rep. Boehner Called Bush’s Budget That Proposed Cuts In Medicare An “Important First Step” For Reining In Medicare Spending. Boehner: “As our nation faces increasing economic uncertainty, it is more important than ever to stay on track toward balancing the budget without raising taxes on families and small businesses. … Finally, I invite the Majority to join Republicans in committing to long-term, fundamental entitlement reform.  Last fall, the first Baby Boomer received a Social Security check, reminding us all of the fiscal tsunami our nation will face if we do not act to prevent a catastrophic collision between entitlement programs and bankruptcy.  For the good of current and future generations, this challenge must be addressed.  It is the height of irresponsibility to simply ignore this issue, as Democrats did in their budget last year, and have done for many years.  It is time to work together and make the difficult choices necessary to preserve these programs so their exploding costs do not threaten future generations.  The President’s budget is an important starting point for this conversation – one that I hope will continue in the weeks and months to come.” According to the New York Times, Bush’s budget called “for large cuts in the growth of Medicare, far exceeding what he proposed last year, and he will again seek major savings in Medicaid, according to administration officials and budget documents.”  [Rep. Boehner release, 2/4/08; New York Times, 1/31/08]

Bush Called For Hundred Of Billions In Cuts To Medicare And Medicare. “Depending on whom you ask, the budget that President Bush proposed last week will save or sink Medicare and Medicaid, two popular programs that, along with Social Security, threaten to swamp the federal budget as the baby-boom generation retires. Bush, citing the need for fiscal responsibility, proposed reducing by $101 billion over five years the spending growth of the two health programs, which serve 93 million people and will cost the government $564 billion this year. One of his most controversial ideas is to charge wealthier seniors higher Medicare premiums for the second time in the program’s 41-year history.” [Washington Post, 2/11/07]

REPUBLICAN LEADERS TRIED TO DESTROY MEDICARE IN THE 1990s…

Newt Gingrich In 1995: Even Though We’d Like To, We Can’t Get Rid Of Medicare “In Round One Because We Don’t Think That That’s Politically Smart…But We Believe It’s Going To Wither On The Vine.” Newt Gingrich said to a Blue Cross/Blue Shield conference in 1995, “[n]ow let me talk a little bit about Medicare…So what we’re trying to do, first of all, is say, O.K., here is a government monopoly plan. We’re designing a free-market plan. Now, they’re very different models. You know, we tell Boris Yeltsin, ‘Get rid of centralized command bureaucracies. Go to the marketplace.’ O.K., what do you think the Health Care Financing Administration is? It’s a centralized command bureaucracy. It’s everything we’re telling Boris Yeltsin to get rid of. Now, we don’t get rid of it in round one because we don’t think that that’s politically smart, and we don’t think that’s the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it’s going to wither on the vine because we think people are voluntarily going to leave it -voluntarily.” [New York Times, 7/20/96]

Republicans Sought To Cut 14% From Medicare Over Only Seven Years In 1995, Planned To “Sharply Raise Medicare Premiums For Affluent Elderly People, Reduce Payments To Doctors And Hospitals And Let Beneficiaries Switch From Medicare To Private Health Plans.” In an article with the headline, “G.O.P’s Plan to Cut Medicare Faces a Veto, Clinton Promises,” the New York Times reported that, “President Clinton said today that he would veto the Republicans’ legislative package for Medicare and Medicaid. He said that their proposals for large savings in the Government health plans for the elderly and the poor would have ‘Draconian consequences’ and would ‘dismantle Medicare as we know it.’… The Republicans seek to cut $270 billion, or 14 percent, from projected Medicare spending during the next seven years… The Republicans would sharply raise Medicare premiums for affluent elderly people, reduce payments to doctors and hospitals and let beneficiaries switch from Medicare to private health plans.” [New York Times, 9/16/95]

…AND HAVE ALWAYS HATED MEDICARE AND PROGRAMS THAT HELP OUR SENIORS

Ronald Reagan: “[I]f you don’t [stop Medicare] and I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.” [1961]

George H.W. Bush: Described Medicare in 1964 as “socialized medicine.” [1964]

Barry Goldwater: “Having given our pensioners their medical care in kind, why not food baskets, why not public housing accommodations, why not vacation resorts, why not a ration of cigarettes for those who smoke and of beer for those who drink.” [1964]

Bob Dole: In 1996, while running for the Presidency, Dole openly bragged that he was one of 12 House members who voted against creating Medicare in 1965. “I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare . . . because we knew it wouldn’t work in 1965.” [1965]

BUSH, MCCAIN AND REPUBLICAN LEADERS EMBRACED GUTTING AND PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURITY

Bush Called For Cutting Social Security Benefits. “President Bush called Thursday night for cutting Social Security benefits for future retirees to put the system on sound financial footing, and he proposed doing so in a way that would demand the most sacrifice from higher-income people while insulating low-income workers.” [New York Times, 4/29/05]

McCain Embraced Bush’s Plan To Privatize Social Security In 2008. “On Social Security, the Arizona senator says he still backs a system of private retirement accounts that President Bush pushed unsuccessfully, and disowned details of a Social Security proposal on his campaign Web site.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]

McCain Proposed Social Security Cuts. “As a result, the McCain campaign says the candidate intends to keep Social Security solvent by reducing the growth in benefits over the coming decades to match projected growth in payroll tax revenues. Among the options are extending the retirement age to 68 and reducing cost-of-living adjustments, but the campaign hasn’t made any final decisions.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]

* McCain Proposed Privatizing Social Security In 2000. “A centerpiece of a McCain presidential bid in 2000 was a plan to divert a portion of Social Security payroll taxes to fund private accounts, much as President Bush proposed unsuccessfully. Under the plan, workers could manage the money in stocks and bonds themselves to build a nest egg and, at retirement, also receive reduced Social Security payments from the government. Proponents say the combination of the nest egg and government payouts could give a retiree more than the current system, but opponents say the change would undermine the Social Security system.” [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]

Rep. Boehner Pledged To “Get Serious” About Privatizing Social Security. Q: “Where does Social Security reform stand?” Rep. Boehner: “I just met with Congressman [Frank R. Wolf, Virginia Republican], a few minutes ago with his SAFE Commission [formed to fix the entitlement programs]. In 1990 when I first ran for Congress, I talked about the need to reform these big entitlement programs because the sooner we began the process, the easier it would be to make the necessary changes so that these programs were sustainable for the long term. … If I’m around in a leadership role come January, we’re going to get serious about this.” [Washington Times, 7/30/06]

Rep. Jim McCrery Said Congress Should Make Social Security Overhaul Its Top Priority. “Congress should make Social Security overhaul its top priority next year, while a rewrite of the tax code and revamping the nation’s healthcare system probably will wait until at least 2009, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman Jim McCrery, R-La., said today.” [CongressDaily, 6/6/06]
Contact: Eric Jotkoff, (850) 222-3411