SIOUX CITY, IA -
With the budget and Medicare driving the political debate this week.
Folks in Siouxland heard from both sides - arguing over the future of health care in America.
Republicans and Democrats held dueling press conferences in Sioux City this week, to blast the other side's plan for Medicare. Here's the dirty little secret neither side wants to admit - the Obama and Ryan plans just aren't that different.
The GOP went first - pointing out that the Medicare trust fund is running out of money.
"According to Medicare's board of trustees, the program will in fact be bankrupt by 2024," said a Romney supporter.
That's true, but Medicare trustees also say that without the affordable care act - which Mitt Romney has promised to repeal - the Medicare trust fund would run out by 2016 - eight years sooner.
Democrats took aim at Paul Ryan, who floated a bipartisan Medicare reform plan with democratic senator Ron Wyden.
"What happens to it, is that it replaces traditional medicine with a voucher system," said an Obama supporter.
That's False. It adds a voucher system in addition to traditional Medicare, But seniors could still stay on Medicare if they wanted.
Republicans worry that the Affordable Care Act gives too much power to unelected officials.
"He also inserted into the bill an unelected panel of 15 bureaucrats called the payment advisory board which will cut additional billions from the medicare program every year in which spending exceeds targeted growth rates," said Romney supporter.
True. If health care costs go up faster than inflation, the board could cut payments to providers, a move that could make it harder for seniors to find a doctor, but the board couldn't cut benefits to the elderly.
While Democrats say a voucher program would end up costing seniors thousands of dollars.
"Most non-partisan economists are telling us that no matter what the voucher, it's likely to be up to 6,000 dollars more a year, for seniors," and Obama supporter said.
That's mostly true - the six thousand dollar claim comes from the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It's a think-tank that's technically non-partisan, but has an agenda.
Now for the whopper that everyone's talking about.
"The president very carelessly cut 717 billion dollars from the medicare program to pay for his health care law," said a Romney supporter.
Nope. That's false. Non-partisan fact checkers say, "claims that imply that Obama has taken money out of Medicare, and Medicare won't ever get it back, are simply not true."
In fact, Paul Ryan's budget relied on the same 700 billion dollars in savings that are part of the Affordable Care Act.
And finally-
"I don't want the government taking over Medicare," a Romney Supporter said.
It's too late for that - the government's been running Medicare from day one.
So what does this all mean?
President Obama's and Paul Ryan's budgets put Medicare on the exact same diet - limiting growth to half a percent over the growth rate of the overall economy.
So we're talking about a philosophical difference here, not a financial one.
That's right. Republicans think Medicare will save money by giving seniors a check to buy their own insurance. Democrats think the only way to control rising health care costs, is a strong Medicare program that pays providers less. But the amount of money they plan on spending down the road, is almost identical.
CITING:
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2012/08/obama_and_romney_on_medicare_they_have_essentially_the_same_plan_to_fix_it_.single.html
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3645
http://swampland.time.com/2012/08/16/fact-check-obamacares-medicare-cuts/
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/medicares-piggy-bank/
http://www.cms.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=4341&intNumPerPage=10&checkDate=&checkKey=&srchType=1&numDays=3500&srchOpt=0&srchData=&keywordType=All&chkNewsType=1 %2C+2%2C+3%2C+4%2C+5&intPage=&showAll=&pYear=&year=&desc=&cboOrder=date
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/aug/15/stephanie-cutter/ryans-plan-includes-700-billion-medicare-cuts-says/
http://www.politifact.com/georgia/article/2012/aug/20/checking-facts-700-billion-medicare-cut/
http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/racs-/-icd-9-/-icd-10/5-points-to-know-on-the-2012-medicare-trustees-report.html
http://www.politifact.com/tennessee/statements/2012/mar/30/marsha-blackburn/marsha-blackburn-says-patients-power-control-healt/
http://www.politifact.com/ohio/statements/2012/mar/19/pat-boone/pat-boone-says-health-care-advisory-board-can-rati/
