Republicans seek to reassure elderly on Medicare

Although Republicans are pushing for deep cuts in government spending, at the same time, they are trying to reassure seniors that their health insurance will remain intact even if Medicare is privatized. Elderly voters are a key to the 2012 vote, where both Democrats and Republicans will be judged for proposed cuts to the federal health insurance program to reduce deficits.

President Obama has called the proposed trimming of benefits as radical, which according to Republicans would replace Medicare with vouchers giving recipients a fixed amount of money to buy private insurance. So Republicans have been holding town hall meetings across the country, with a clear message: Medicare is unsustainable in its current form and only their plan will guarantee future seniors access to healthcare.

Freshman Republican Steve Stivers said he has been busy explaining to people aged 55 and up that they will see no change in their benefits under the Republican plan which would save nearly $6 trillion over the next decade.

“I talk about how for people 54 and under we are preserving the system, we are reforming it to save it because frankly in nine years if we do nothing Medicare goes broke,” he said.

Reuters

That message is crucial if Republicans hope to win support for their plan to privatize the popular government-run program. The elderly typically vote in large numbers.

Already seniors punished Democrats for voting to cut Medicare spending by $500 billion over 10 years and use the money to help pay for Obama’s healthcare overhaul that aims to give coverage to millions of uninsured Americans.

But both parties are ready to do battle over Medicare, in the next election. And for the Republicans, they are betting that the plan released by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, which emphasizes the size of the deficit, and will get people thinking. Under Ryan’s plan, starting in 2022 retirees would get subsidies to purchase health policies from private insurers. Medicare currently covers people aged 65 and older and the disabled.

Yet Democrats see this tipping the scales in their favor, and Republicans losing votes come 2012. Obama lambasted Ryan’s plan during a road trip to California and Nevada this week to promote his own blueprint for reducing the budget deficit.

“What little recipe for reform he has offered so far appears to be greater power for a board of bureaucrats in Washington to ration care for seniors,” House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price said in a statement. “The Medicare status quo is unsustainable. Rationing is unacceptable,” said Price adding that the Republican plan would “save and strengthen Medicare by giving future seniors guaranteed access to greater health care choices.”

Reuters

Both Democrat and Republican strategists see Medicare as a potent issue for the 2012 election, jittery financial markets could force lawmakers into early compromise.

The warning and public desire to see lawmakers come to grips with the deficit give both sides an incentive to compromise on Medicare.