GOP Medicare Claims Not Supported By Facts

Eugene Robinson has an excellent piece in the August 16 Washington Post that takes the GOP, and especially Romney surrogate John Sununu to task over intentionally misleading statements about the Affordable Care Act's reduction of payments to Medicare service providers over a 10 year period.

The GOP would like to convince voters that this is "gutting Medicare," when in fact benefits and costs to seniors remain the same under the ACA.

In contrast, VP candidate Paul Ryan proposes to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Seniors could choose to buy a private insurance policy, or pay the government for Medicare, but if the voucher doesn't cover the cost, it's up to the seniors to pay the difference. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the increased cost to the average Medicare recipient at $6,500.

Robinson writes, "It doesn’t take a genius to recognize the political problem this causes for Romney, especially in states where older voters are a key voting bloc."

As CNN's Soledad O'Brien told Sununu during an August 14 appearance, "You can’t just repeat it and make it true, sir.”

Read The Real Medicare Question.