And the Democrats’ Magical Mystery Tour continues, from Obama on down, lying through their teeth about Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan.
Bear in mind, first and foremost, that the Obamacare program, voted into law SOLELY by Democrats, contains MASSIVE cuts to Medicare. Doctors are now limiting Medicare patients as a result. But that doesn’t stop the Democrats from railing at Ryan’s plan, acting as if he is going to unplug machines or something.
Don’t take it from me, though. FactCheck.org, a division of the Annenberg Foundation, just came out with an article highlighting the new DNC Chair, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s lies about this very program.
But first, astute readers may recall that the Annenberg Challenge is where Barack Obama and his good buddy, domestic terrorist, Bill Ayers, served on the board together. This is no conservative organization coming out with this information, but one with a liberal past.
So, what did the DNC Chair say exactly? This, according to the FactCheck article, “DNC Chair Throws Truth To The Wolves,” the headline of which says it all:
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz falsely claimed that seniors with preexisting medical conditions would be denied Medicare coverage under the GOP’s plan. The House GOP plan specifically says insurance companies “must agree to offer insurance to all Medicare beneficiaries.”
She also repeated a false Democratic talking point that future beneficiaries — those who are now younger than 55 — would be left on their own to buy insurance in the private market. The GOP plan, as we have written before, would provide subsidies for future beneficiaries to buy private insurance from a Medicare exchange set up by the government.Wasserman Schultz, the new chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, made her comments May 29 on “Face the Nation.”
Wasserman Schultz, May 29: What they would do is they would take the people who are younger than 55 years old today and tell them, “You know what? You’re on your own. Go and find private health insurance in the — in the health care insurance market. We’re going to throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for preexisting conditions. We’re going to give you ‘x’ amount of dollars and you figure it out.”
She is simply wrong to say that the GOP plan would allow insurance companies to “throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage and drop you for preexisting conditions.” [snip]
Not that you would know it from the attacks from Obama and his minions, but the Ryan Plan is not as Draconian as they want people to think. They are just blowing smoke to make sure no one pays attention to the cuts THEY made, which are affecting people on Medicare. But hey, why let the truth stand in your way? The Dems aren’t, that’s for sure:
The Republican plan — dubbed “Path to Prosperity” by its chief architect, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — would make no changes in Medicare for those 55 and older. But it would make significant changes to Medicare for those younger than 55 — just not as described by the Florida Democrat. The plan would provide future beneficiaries with government subsidies to purchase health insurance through a Medicare exchange set up by the government.Path to Prosperity: Health plans that choose to participate in the Medicare exchange must agree to offer insurance to all Medicare beneficiaries, to avoid cherry-picking and ensure that Medicare’s sickest and highest-cost beneficiaries receive coverage.
DNC spokesman Hari Sevugan said “we stand by the statement” that the GOP plan would deny coverage to future beneficiaries with preexisting conditions. (Emphasis mine.) Sevugan provided excerpts of testimony given April 5 by Michael F. Cannon, director of health policy studies at the libertarian CATO Institute, at a hearing of a House oversight subcommittee. But in that testimony, Cannon said that “all seniors under the chairman’s proposal, as I understand it, will be able to obtain health insurance coverage.” And those with preexisting conditions “will get larger vouchers” because payments will be “risk-adjusted so that people with severe illnesses will get larger vouchers.”Sevugan made the point that the government subsidies — or “vouchers,” as Cannon calls them — won’t keep up with insurance premiums and, as a result, seniors would be forced to go without coverage. But that’s not what the DNC chairwoman said. She said the GOP plan would allow private insurers to “drop you for preexisting conditions,” and that’s just not true. [snip]
Lies, lies, and more lies. But what I love is that the DNC spokesman, in the face of facts to the contrary, claims that they “stand by their statements.” They are misrepresenting a plan to the American people to cast Ryan’s plan in as negative a light as possible, even if what they say is not true. Wow. That takes some chutzpah. Or complete and utter lack of ethics. You decide.
The conclusion of this article (and there is more to it, so I urge you to click here to read the rest), is this:
[snip ]It’s fair game to debate whether the subsidies are adequate to cover insurance costs. But it’s wrong to say that the GOP plan would “throw you to the wolves and allow insurance companies to deny you coverage.”
When FactCheck.org is telling you you’re lying, and you keep doing it, that is disingenuous at best, and deplorable at worst. They are simply trying to gin up votes, and just like 2008, they don’t care how much they lie to do it.
Of course, Rep. Wasserman Schultz is just following Obama’s lead. He is the one who started this BS back in April, lying through his teeth, as FactCheck.org made clear. I think Rep. Paul Ryan is a bit over it, this Hill article makes clear from the meeting between Republicans and Obama on Wednesday,
“Ryan to Obama: ‘Leadership Should Come From The Top‘”. Why, yes, it should, Rep. Ryan. Yes, leadership should come from the top. But Obama isn’t a leader, he is a liar, which he has demonstrated time and time again. Why would you expect anything less than that from him, or his hand picked DNC chair?
Ahem. To his credit, Ryan stood firm:
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) confronted President Obama over his attack on the Republican budget plan in the most dramatic moment of a White House meeting with the House GOP conference.Saying he wanted to “clear the air” amid a deficit debate marred by partisan rancor, Ryan, the author of the House GOP budget, told the president he was wrong to characterize Republicans as turning their backs on children and senior citizens.
“Leadership should come from the top,” Ryan said to Obama, according to Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.), who described the exchange to The Hill.
Ryan also called out the president for his speech at George Washington University in April, where Obama castigated the Republican budget in harsh terms while Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, sat just a few feet away.[snip] (Click here to read the rest.)
Ah, yes – Obama the picture of decorum and good manners. Not.
Both Rep. Ryan and FactCheck.org have tried to set the record straight about Ryan’s Budget plan. The Democrats will have none of it. Better to stick with the lie than the truth, especially if it will score a bunch of points, right? They are intentionally manipulating people, scaring some, and pissing off others as a result of their continued false meme. That is reprehensible.
You know, I still cannot believe that this is how the DNC has always operated, and I was just too blind to see it. But if the past 3 years is any indication, that is exactly what they were doing, I am ashamed to admit. Is it really so hard for Democrats and Republicans to work together on the behalf of ALL AMERICANS? To not worry about who gets the most points for it? Is it really so hard to put the country first, and our worsening economic situation, over partisan sides?
Evidently. And that just makes me mad. How about you?