Krugman’s Big Lie
This is from today’s Krugman column:
Mr. Ryan’s big lie — and, yes, it deserves that designation — was his claim that “a Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare.” Actually, it would kill the program…The Republican Party is now firmly committed to replacing Medicare with what we might call Vouchercare…
It ends with this hysteria:
Mr. Ryan and his party are betting that they can bluster their way through this, pretending that they are the real defenders of Medicare even as they work to kill it. Will they get away with it?
What’s wrong with all this? Answer below the fold.
Earth to Krugman:
We already have a voucher program under Medicare. It’s called Medicare Part C, or the Medicare Advantage program. One out of four Medicare beneficiaries is enrolled in a private Medicare Advantage plan.
President Obama has long favored reducing the payments to these plans, and significant cuts are part of the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). But as Tom Saving and I explained the other day, the Ryan budget endorses these same cuts.
Moreover, neither the president nor any other prominent Democrat is calling for the abolition of these very popular plans. To the contrary, the administration is busily shoring them up with “bonus payments,” fearing that a significant number of plans leaving the market before the election would anger elderly voters.
See Chris Jacobs’ response to Krugman as well.
Good post.
After reading Krugman, and living under the Presidential authority of Obama, it has occured to me that a Nobel Prize is neither a reflection of intellect or leadership.
I like the nuanced heading. Is it Krugman telling a big lie? Or just writing about someone else’s lie?
Yes we already have MA, and I think that should show that simply shifting payments to premium support/vouchers will not solve our problems.
Vouchers might be part of a larger reform, but it wouldn’t be the important part of that reform.
Krugman distorting the truth? Somehow I’m not surprised.
Didn’t he get a Nobel Prize for his vision as president? For changing the dynamic of international relations? Multilateral diplomacy is center stage once again.
That must be why he ended the war in Iraq and Afghanistan earl…y..
Or why we have opened formal lines of communication with.. oh, not that either.
The record which afforded him a Nobel Prize is just about as credible as his vision for healthcare.
So, despite your catchy headline, Krugman’s NOT lying, he’s just failing to mention that we currently have Medicare Advantage, which is a voucher program.
Medicare Advantage is a VOLUNTARY program; it doesn’t in any way undermine anyone’s health insurance coverage like Ryan’s “Vouchercare” system will, as the CBO analysis reveals.
The difference is clear for all who choose to see it.
Krugman was right, you are just regurgitating the same lies that the Republican Party want you to believe. Independent analysis shows that Vouchercare will cost an addition $6000+ out of pocket. See this: http://www.cbpp.org/files/4-7-11bud.pdf
I’m getting a little tired of hearing about how one party will kill Medicare because it wants Medicare to adapt to the modern world; while the other party will save it by using price controls to extract $700 billion from the doctors that treat Medicare patients.
Seniors should dig through the rhetoric and reach a conclusin based on facts rather than have their intelligence continually insulted with claims intentionally designed to obscure the facts.