If you want yet another example of hyper-partisan politics in Washington that is destroying our nation, consider the bipolar views of Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s vote against the Ryan plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program.
Stabenow, who is supposedly facing a tough re-election fight in 2012, sent out a press release boasting that she voted against legisaltion to “end Medicare.” Clearly the plan by Rep. Paul Ryan is designed to save a flailing Medicare program by forcing those who are 55 years old and younger to use a federal voucher and take their chances in the private insurance market..
Stabenow, like many Democrats, made no distinctions, claiming that she voted against a bill that balances the budget “on the backs of seniors. “ While the Ryan plan would impose significant hardships on future seniors, the senator is playing games by suggesting it would have any impact on current Medicare-recipients – or even those on the cusp of collecting their benefits.
By the way: the bipartisan vote against the Ryan plan was not even close, with a 57-40 tally rejecting it.
At the same time, the reckless rhetoric by Stabenow was outdone by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which declared that Stabenow is the “only candidate for the Senate in Michigan” that voted for a law that rations health care and cuts Medicare.
Wow. That is quite a mouthful.
First, there is no viable GOP candidate for the Michigan Senate seat in 2012 because the likely contenders have declined to run.
Second, the Senate vote was on the Ryan plan and not on bills that would supposedly engage in health care rationing or legislation that would chop $500 billion in funding for Medicare off the top.
The NRSC reference was to the health care reform bill that was signed into law last year. That bill chooses to trim $500 billion from Medicare by ending a privatized offshoot of the program and by engaging in other streamlining.
The references to rationing are a canard by the Republicans, an attempt to exaggerate the impact of a medical panel that will push for all states to engage in the “best practices” across the nation.
Yet, the Republicans and Democrats are both guilty of painting the issue in the starkest of terms – an end to Medicare as we know it or decisions from Washington to shore up the program by denying care to elderly retirees.
No mention of options such as raising the Medicare payroll tax, or increasing the eligibility age for Medicare after decades of rising life expectancies, or establishing a separate program for catastrophic health care expenses.
Laying out the possibilities would certainly educate voters, but it would make a huge dent in the stubbornly partisan messages spread by the two political parties.